Adventures in Babysitting
by Jack E. Peace
Summary: Shortly after Sam joins the Decathlon team, he and Laura plan to have a little study-session. But, as it turns out, they're not going to get a whole lot of studying then when they have to watch out for seven screaming kids. (Completed)
1. A Slave to Beauty

Disclaimer: None of the characters from "DAT" belong to me, Tessa belongs to the fabulous Sullen Lilly.

A/N: So, get ready for a long author's note. First off, I'd like to start by saying that, yes, disaster has struck; of course, what would a "Day" fic be _without _a disaster but, sadly, this one has struck "Made to be Broken." So, until I can get back the last chapter I updated is being a pain in the butt right now), I can't update "MTBB", sadly, because of the computer-crash. But, fear not, I hope to have this fixed by tomorrow. Now, onto the note concerning this story; I know it's a little out there for a "Day" fic but go with me here. My best friend and I had our own little "adventures in babysitting" last month and it just begged to be a story, complete with cute Sam and Laura fluffiness, because, really what is the point of living without that? Anyway, this story is set before the actual movie takes place and please review and enjoy. Phew, this was a long one.

Chapter One

A Slave to Beauty

Sam Hall knew, within seconds of seeing Laura Chapman for the first time, that he would do anything for her. A part of his mind also knew that this was a dangerous thing, that he relinquishing himself to a girl he could barely speak to, but he didn't much care. All Laura had to do was smile at him so that her cheeks dimpled and fix him with those wide brown eyes of hers and Sam would have committed murder if she had asked him to. Hell, he probably would have killed his own father if it had meant that she'd keep smiling at him.

The only problem with this new found form of slavery was that everyone in the entire school, perhaps maybe even the city, knew about Sam's feelings except for the one person that really mattered. If Laura hadn't been so cute, innocent and utterly beautiful, he would have had a hard time believing that she didn't know what she did to him when she smiled and said his name. But, whenever Laura smiled, Sam would have had a hard time believing that she was even capable of raising her voice, let alone leading him on in the innocent way she seemed to be doing. Just a smile and he was hers.

And that was exactly what was happening at that moment, as Sam sat in calculus class sandwiched between Laura and his best friend, Brian Parks, trying to pretend like he wasn't there. Whenever he remembered he was sitting next to Laura, then things turned out badly, rolling downhill until he made a fool of himself. Therefore, it was easier for him just to pretend that he was anywhere but beside the girl of his dreams, keeping his mouth shut and his eyes averted to the surface of the desk. The last thing he needed was for Laura to catch him staring at her and write him off as some stalker and asked to be moved to another calculus class.

Sam's vow of silence was going unnoticed for the moment as Laura and Brian talked around him like he wasn't even there. Laura was leaning on the desk, her chin propped up on her elbows, looking past Sam and focusing all of her attention on Brian. This would have made Sam jealous if he hadn't known that his friend and Laura had known one another since they were kids and had as much romantic attraction for each other as he did with Brian. Still, it would have been nice to be able to carry on a conversation like that...

"Anyway," Laura was telling Brian, "the only problem with joining the Decathlon team is that you have to have three team-members to even apply." She frowned and Sam thought he could die right there, killed by the absolute adorableness of that look. "Is that fair?"

_What's not fair, _Sam wanted to say to her, _is how you're killing me and not even knowing that you're doing it. _But, then again, he would have gladly died in front of his calculus class if it would keep that look on her face.

Brian shrugged. "Maybe not, but I don't see why it's such a big problem." He told her. "All we have to do is find someone else willing to join the Decathlon team."

Laura deflated slightly, sitting back in her seat; Sam could see that her shyness was kicking in again and that the thought of asking relative strangers anything wasn't looking too pleasing to her. Sam watched her out of the corner of his eye and wondered how anyone that beautiful could be that shy.

"Right." Laura agreed, almost reluctantly. "Do you know of anyone who would want to join?"

Sam looked up and made the mistake of meeting Laura's gaze because, at that moment, he would have sold his soul to the Devil if it would have put that smile back on Laura's face. But, he had a feeling that he was about to agree to something a lot worse then eternal damnation.

"What about you Sam?" Laura questioned hopefully and Sam knew he was sold. "You're pretty smart." She smiled slightly.

Sam nodded, slowly because he was too busy processing the fact that Laura had not only complimented him and meant it but had smiled at him too. "Right." He muttered dumbly, not quite sure just what was 'right'. He nodded again, just because it seemed like that was what Laura wanted.

Laura leaned closer to him, that killer smile dimpling her cheeks, her thick curls framing her face, and set her hand on top his, an pleading gesture Sam knew. "Sam, do you think you'd like to join the Decathlon team? You're so smart it would probably be easy for you and it would look really good on your college applications." She told him but Sam found it hard to pay any attention to her words. "But if you don't-"

"Sure." Sam agreed before the words could even leave her mouth. "Sure, I'll join." He said quickly, wanting Laura's hand to remain over his for the rest of his life. Laura looked at him for a moment, as though surprised by his sudden agreement, trying to find the reasoning behind it. "I mean, anything for applications helps, right?" He attempted to remark nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

Something flickered across Laura's face that he couldn't quite read as she nodded slowly, pulling her hand away as though she realized what she was doing. "That's great." Her momentary doubt passed quickly and the smile returned. "Thanks so much Sam."

Sam nodded, waving his hand dismissively, wishing he could say, _oh, don't mention it, it was my pleasure_. But he knew that if those words left his mouth, they would surely be followed by something like, _anything you want Laura, because I already love you too much to say 'no.'_

But, what good would that have done? Absolutely none.

* * *

After calculus class had come to an end and Sam had promptly filed the lesson away for later use in the back of his mind, once again freeing up his thoughts for more important people, Brian meet him in the hallway as soon as Laura had disappeared into the crush of bodies filling the narrow corridor.

As soon as Sam saw his friend and the look on his face, he knew that he was in for a lecture of some kind and he wasn't looking forward to it. Brian stepped up beside him before Sam could act as though he hadn't noticed his friend and make a quick getaway and shook his head in disbelief. "You are one sad person, you know that right?" Brian remarked.

Sam frowned. "What are you talking about?" He questioned, though he knew exactly what his friend was talking about. One of these days, he was going to get a little better at pretending...one of these days.

"If Laura would have asked you to walk off a building, you would have done it." Brian observed, ignoring Sam's question. "But I'm sure that you know this." He fixed his friend with a raised eye-brow stare.

Sam rolled his eyes. "You're making a big deal out of nothing." He attempted to be nonchalant, as though he had no idea that what Brian said was true. "It's just Decathlon and besides, I was going to join an after school activity anyway, my mom's been pressuring me into it." A lie, yes, but hopefully one Brian couldn't see through.

"Fine." Brian said. "But, it just so happens that you joined the one after school activity that a certain brown-eyed beauty is involved in."

Sam felt his cheeks redden slightly and looked away from Brian. "What's your point?" He mumbled, though he didn't really want to know.

"C'mon Sam, just get over it and ask her out. She'll say yes, trust me." Brian advised. "Besides this whole thing is getting tiresome."

Sam looked back at him. "What whole thing?" He questioned, but continued on before his friend had a chance to clarify. "Besides, it's not like that between Laura and I, we're just friends." Oh boy, he was going straight to Hell because of all the lies he had just told in these past two minutes.

"That's what I'm talking about." Brian stopped suddenly and turned to face Sam, causing him to stop as well. "Acting like there's nothing there when the entire state knows how you feel about Laura. It's like something out of a movie." He rolled his eyes. "But this isn't a movie Sam, get some balls and talk to the girl."

Sam frowned, Brian's words finding their mark. "I talk to her." He defended weakly. Brian raised an eyebrow. "I do."

"Great, but you're not saying the right words to her." Brian retorted. Sam sighed, he knew his friend was right but that didn't mean he had to admit that verbally. Brian clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Maybe you should improve your conversation skills."

And with that, Brian disappeared into his classroom seconds before the warning bell rang, jarring Sam's thoughts momentarily away from Laura and filling them with the knowledge that he only had a minute to get to his classroom across the building. As he hurried down the hallway, Sam couldn't help but think about what Brian said; what could it hurt to talk to Laura, to show her that he had interest in her?

By the time Sam was receiving his first detention for being late to class, he had almost decided just what he was going to say to Laura. Almost.

* * *

Laura took her seat at the not-so-crowded lunch table beside Sam and instantly launched into the pressing topic of the Decathlon team. If Sam hadn't loved the sound of her voice so much, he probably would have been bored. Besides, it fascinating to see just how much one person could care so much about school. Especially a part of school they didn't really have to care about.

"Anyway," Laura was saying by the time Sam got around to paying attention to the topics at hand, forcing himself to abandon thoughts of a hopeful future with a certain someone. "Now that we have our team, we have to pass a preliminary test so that we can even qualify for the team."

Sam looked at her. "Wait, I didn't know there was going to be an actual test." He said. "I thought it was just sitting at a table answering questions."

"It is." Laura answered quickly, as though she was worried that she might lose her latest team member. "But the first thing we have to do is prove that we're smart enough for the team."

Sam couldn't keep himself from scoffing and rolling his eyes. "As if there's a surplus of people wanting to join." He remarked.

Laura raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to say?" She questioned and Sam might have apologized if she hadn't looked so adorable with her eyebrow raised and her hands pressed against her hips. So, instead, he couldn't help but grin at her, a small laugh escaping his lips. This didn't seem to please Laura very much and her brow furrowed. "What is so funny, Sam Hall?" She questioned.

Before Sam could give her whatever excuse he could come up with first, Brian intervened, leaning across the table to get their attention. "I really don't think that's important right now." He said and looked at his friend. "Sam, I can't believe you're not jumping all over the chance to prove just how smart you are."

Sam knew that his friend was dangling bait in front of him and he did his best to ignore what Brian was saying. But, he couldn't refuse any longer and said sharply, "I do not try and prove how smart I am."

Brian raised an eyebrow. "So, I guess you've forgotten the Spelling Bee Incident of 1996?" He waited with a smug smile on his face for his friend to provide him with an answer.

Sam cleared his throat and looked away from Brian, staring down at the floor and hoping that Laura wouldn't ask the question that was already leaving her lips. "What happened?" She questioned, looking pointedly at Sam, who wouldn't meet her gaze. Seeing she was gaining no lee-way, Laura turned toward Brian. "What happened?"

Brian grinned. "In fourth grade, we had a school wide spelling bee and Sam, of course, qualified and he was the last kid on stage because all the other kids had already lost. And so, the teacher giving the test gave him the word and he spelled it but the teacher said he got it wrong. So, in front of the entire school, Sam argued with that woman because he knew he was right but the teacher wouldn't give in. So, they had to get a dictionary and look the word up; of course, Sam was right and kids started teasing him about how he was smarter then the teachers...you know how kids are." Brian shook his head and motioned toward his friend. "He hates being wrong."

Laura had an amused smile on her face but she kept silent, for which Sam was grateful for; he didn't think he could take any teasing coming from the love of his life. "Then Decathlon is perfect." She said instead.

Sam was about to say something when Brian interrupted once more, with the absentmindedness of someone thinking aloud. "Then there was that time in kindergarten when he argued with the principal that whales weren't fish." He mused. "And in sixth grade when-"

"All right." Sam snapped, silencing his friend. "I think we all get the point." He cleared his throat, almost sheepishly and looked over at Laura. "So, when's this test?"

"Next Monday." She told him promptly. "That means we have tomorrow and all weekend to study." Laura paused before she could say anything else, almost as though catching herself from saying something embarrassing. "Not that studying is the only thing I have to do on the weekends." She mumbled, looking away from Sam and down at her lunch as though it suddenly deserved all of her attention. "But we should certainly make time to study."

Sam smiled to himself, touched by her bashfulness. "Sure." He agreed. "Why not Friday night?"

Laura was already nodding in agreement when Brian spoke up, telling his friends that Friday night was his younger sister's ballet recital and he couldn't miss it. Laura frowned, thought for a moment, then spoke again. "Sam and I can study, brush up on the basics, then we can all get together Sunday afternoon and make sure we have everything down." She looked at the two boys. "Okay?"

Brian nodded, just because he knew there was no way he could get out of watching his six-year-old sister trip over herself on stage and call it dance. Sam nodded because he was too shocked by the thought of spending a few hours alone with Laura to do much of anything else.

The smile still on her face, Laura nodded once. "Great." She looked at Sam. "So, I'll see you tomorrow night, okay?"

Sam continued nodding, though he was certain Laura got the message. Hell, he would have agreed to anything at that moment and spending time with Laura was certainly the lesser of two evils.


	2. A Change of Plans

So, here's the next chapter, finally; thanks to Lily and Punkin who reviewed. Also, go read the stories by author Lucie Brody; she has the sweetest Sam and Laura story. Anyway, keep up those reviews.

Chapter Two

Change of Plans

"I'm going over to Laura's house to study tonight." Sam told his mother, Lucy Hall, as he rushed out the door the next morning. He had decided that letting his mother know about his Friday night plans would best be done as he was hurrying out the door or she was. That way, she didn't have the chance to ask him all those embarrassing questions about his and Laura's relationship (or lack there of, he thought with a sigh), or any other motherly questions. Everyone benefited by this decision, Sam decided, especially him.

Lucy, however, didn't seem to see it this way and grabbed Sam by his backpack before he could get off the front stoop. "Hang on." She commanded, tugging her son back toward her. "Who's this Laura? Why have I never heard of her before?"

Sam regretted turning around to see the stern, almost patronizing look on Lucy's face but he did it anyway, sighing slightly. "She's just this girl in school." He answered. "We're studying for the Decathlon team."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "You joined a team?" She questioned and Sam rolled his eyes. "Wow, I'm impressed."

"Well don't be." Sam said, pulling himself free from his mother's grasp. "It's not a big deal. I just wanted to let you know where I'd be tonight."

Lucy nodded once. "Okay. Will you and this Laura be alone?" She questioned and Sam wanted to throw himself into oncoming traffic. He loved his mother and all, but he didn't understand why she had to act like this; she should know that he could be trusted around the opposite sex, since he was almost never around them. He had gotten his father's gene for shyness, something he had always resented. "Will her parents be there?" Lucy prodded.

"Yes." Sam answered, for he couldn't think of any reason they wouldn't be. "And Brian will be there too." He didn't like lying to his mother, but he'd rather spend an evening with Laura, no matter how innocent. He figured Lucy would understand.

Lucy looked skeptical for a moment. "All right, fine." She said with a nod. "I'm on call tonight so don't come home too late."

Sam nodded. "Sure." He agreed, before stepping down the stoop once more, waving a half-hearted 'goodbye' to his mother. Lucy returned the gesture, watching her only son head down the street toward the school bus stop. She smiled faintly at the thought of Sam being so infatuated with a girl at school that he would break his rule for joining teams. Sam was too laid back to enjoy competition, just like his father, so Lucy decided this Laura must really be something special. It appeared that her son sure thought so.

* * *

Sam found Laura and Brian sitting on the wooden patio that had been built behind their high school years ago and had been christened The Senior Deck by the upperclassmen. However, the name no longer meant anything for even the underclassmen used the patio for their early morning hang-outs, though no one seemed to mind. Sam knew that this was Laura's favorite place to be when she wasn't in school and he always made a bee-line for the spot every morning.

Laura was sitting on one of the wooden benches, going through her American History notes for a quiz that Sam knew she had in first period. Brian was amusing himself with something on his laptop, which he never seemed to let out of his sight, and neither of them looked up when Sam joined them on the patio.

"Hey guys." Sam greeted as he sat down on the bench next to Laura. Brian nodded a short greeting, not looking up from the screen on his laptop.

Laura looked up from her notes and smiled at Sam, a gesture that melted his heart all over again. He tried to remember Brian's advice about telling her how he felt but he couldn't remember any of the words that he had meant to say to her.

Thankfully, Sam didn't have to remain staring stupidly at her for much longer because Laura spoken then. "Oh Sam," she began, almost reluctantly and Sam almost dreaded hearing what she might have to say, "my mother told me last night that she and some of her friends were getting together tonight for some kind of party. All the people she's going with are dumping their kids at my house, so I don't think that I can study tonight." She looked genuinely regretful of what she was saying.

Sam hoped that his sudden disappointment didn't show on his face; inside he felt like someone had hit him in the stomach with a wooden beam. Tonight was supposed to be his chance to really tell Laura how he felt, when they were alone and he might be able to express just how much she meant to him. Tonight was supposed to be the night where, in his mind anyway, Laura told him that she felt the same way. "That's all right." Sam said, attempting to remain nonchalant. "We can do it another night."

Laura nodded slowly and looked away from him, attempting to put her attention back to her history notes. Instead, she found herself thinking about Sam; sure, studying for the upcoming Decathlon test was important to her but she was looking forward to spending a little time alone with Sam. Maybe then she could manage to explain, somehow, that she was attracted to him, that she had been since the moment she met him. But now, it didn't look like she was ever going to get the chance.

Brian looked up from his laptop and rolled his eyes at how absolutely miserable his two best friends looked. By the crest-fallen looks on Sam and Laura's faces, you'd expect to learn that someone had just run over their parents. If only they could see each other's faces right then, there would be no question about how they felt about one another. But then, Brian knew that Sam and Laura were no Romeo and Juliet and they'd never figure admit to their rather nauseating love for each other without a little prodding. Of course, it had to be up to him to give them that extra little push.

"Hey," Brian said, getting both of their attention, "why doesn't Sam go over to your house, Laura, and help you watch the kids? That way you'll still get some studying done." And maybe get over this no longer endearing shyness, Brian thought but didn't say. He didn't understand what was so difficult about the whole situation; everyone in school could tell that Sam and Laura were head over heels for each other, except for Sam and Laura.

Laura brightened slightly at Brian's suggestion but managed to quell her relief when she turned back toward Sam. "That's not a bad idea; there are going to be a lot of kids there, I could use the help." She told him. "If you don't mind, of course."

Sam was already nodding even before the words were completely out of her mouth. "Sure." He told her. "That'd be fine, I like kids." Which was a lie, but he liked Laura so for her, he could like kids.

Laura smiled. "Great." She proceeded to give him directions to her apartment and the time that he should get there, before the parents dropped off their children. She had just finished by the time the bell rang, signaling that classes were about to begin.

"Thanks again, Sam." Laura said just before she disappeared into the mass of students exiting the Senior Deck in hopes of getting to class on time. Sam nodded and smiled at her, though he figured that she hadn't seen him.

Brian looked over at his friend and rolled his eyes. "I hope tonight you'll finally talk to her." He remarked, gathering up his school things.

Sam narrowed his eyes. "C'mon Brian, I hardly think that making sure a bunch of kids don't kill themselves is the time for romance." He said, shouldering his backpack.

Brian raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so now there's romance?" He questioned. "That's a pretty cocky thing for someone who can't even form a sentence and look Laura in the eye to say."

"Shut up." Sam mumbled, heading off the patio without waiting for his friend to catch up. He could do without Brian's little 'pep talks' for a while.

* * *

Tessa Chapman, ten years old but very good at pretending to be four, silently entered her older sister's room and hopped noisily onto Laura's bed. The elder girl narrowed her eyes at her sister's reflection, not looking away from the mirror where she was applying her scarcely used makeup. "Go away." Laura commanded without blinking an eye, carefully applying mascara.

"No." Tessa stated simply and wrapped herself in Laura's perfectly made covers, tossing the pillows to the floor. "Why are you putting on makeup? Do you have a date tonight?"

Laura tried to ignore her sister for as long as possible but couldn't manage to do so for more then a minute. "No." She answered finally.

"Of course not." Tessa shrugged her shoulders. "You don't go on dates."

Laura set down her mascara brush and whirled around to face her sister. "Get out of here." She commanded again. "What do you want anyway?"

Tessa freed herself from Laura's tangled comforter long enough to cross her arms over her chest, setting a scowl on her face. "I just wanted to tell you," she began, "that I'm not helping you baby sit tonight." She paused. "Unless you want to pay me."

"Nice try, Tess." Laura rolled her eyes. "But I don't need your help; a friend from school is coming over."

Tessa's eyes grew wide. "He's a _boy_, isn't he." She accused, as though such a thing were unthinkable. "Does Mom know you're bringing a _boy _over?"

"Yes." Laura lied, for she didn't think it was important to tell her mother that Sam was coming over to help her watch the kids. She just hoped that Sam got her after her mother had already left.

Tessa looked skeptical. "No she doesn't." She decided finally. "You didn't tell Mom that there's a _boy _coming over." Tessa made sure that her voice took on extra volume as she spoke this last sentence, in hopes that Michelle Chapman, from her spot in the bathroom down the hall would hear. "I hope none of the kids die while you're kissing this boy."

Laura's cheeks redden. "It's not like that." She mumbled. "He's just coming over to study."

Tessa giggled. "Study?" She repeated. "Is that what they're calling it now." She wiggled her eyes, something Laura figured she had learned from one of those trashy soap operas she always found to watch.

Laura picked up the first thing she could reach, which happened to be her calculus text book, and brandished it at her sister. "No, studying, like with books. Something you never do." She clarified, motioning to the book in her hand as though she hadn't intended on throwing it at her sister.

"Right..." Tessa drawled, slipping off Laura's bed. "I'll be happy to watch the kids, if you'll pay me, so that you and Sam can...study."

Laura let out an exasperated cry and threw the book, against her better judgment, at Tessa. The girl ducked seconds before the book would have connected with her face, crashing into Laura's dresser instead. This knocked several of the framed pictures onto the floor, as well as a collection of other knick-knacks, everything crashing to the floor along with the book.

Tessa looked up at her sister with wide eyes and an expression that said _you're going to be in trouble now_ and returned the wide-eyed stare. Both girls remained silently looking at each other, both mentally working up their story to explain the flying text book, when their mother rushed into the room, looking not at all worried but extremely upset. "What the hell is going on in here?" She looked accusingly at her eldest daughter.

Before Laura had the chance to explain just what had happened, Tessa decided to put her two cents in. "Laura's having a boy over tonight." She told her mother.

Michelle didn't seem to find this news too pleasing. "A boy?" She repeated as though it was the greatest crime in the world to be a teenage girl and know the opposite sex. "And why didn't I know about this?"

Laura shrugged. "I was going to tell you." She said when the lie had come to her. "After you were done getting ready."

Tessa glared at her older sister; often times, she idolized the girl, following her around just so she could absorb some of Laura's sisterly wisdom. This was not one of those times. "No she wasn't." She declared. "Laura wasn't going to tell you and she was going to spend all night kissing this boy." Laura felt her cheeks grow even redder. "And..." Tessa paused for effect, "she threw her book at me."

Michelle held up her hands before Laura could defend herself and called for silence. "Enough. When I get home tonight, we'll sort this all out." She mumbled.

"You should punish her." Tessa declared, crossing her arms over her chest and assumingly her faux-motherly posture. "And make that boy go home."

Laura turned to her sister, deciding that if Tessa's words had any sway on her mother, causing Michelle to send Sam home, she was going to throw the girl off the roof. Michelle appeared to be considering this when the door bell rang and Laura looked at her mother with wide eyes. "Mom, that's Sam, please," she begged, "don't make him leave. We were just going to study."

Michelle didn't look as though she believed her daughter. "Well, I would hope that you'd have enough dignity to keep your hormones under control while there are little children around." She said primly. Laura decided that she was going to throw herself off the roof as well. "Now I've got to go." She looked at her youngest daughter. "Keep an eye on her, Tess." Tessa nodded and gave Laura the, _I guess we know who Mom trusts_, and smiled winningly at her mother.

Michelle left Laura's bedroom, heading for the door, where Sam was patiently waiting. Laura whirled toward her sister and grabbed her arm, pulling her close. "As soon as Mom leaves, you're grounded." She commanded, letting Tessa go and hurrying out of her room, hoping to reach the door before her mother did.

"You can't ground me!" Tessa shouted shrilly. "Mom!" She cried. "Tell Laura she can't ground me!" She rushed after her sister.

Laura answered the door, ignoring the look that her mother was giving her, and put on her best forced smile. But seeing Sam standing on the other side of the door turned the smile into a real one, especially when Sam smiled back. His smile disappeared, however, and he looked at her with concern. "Are you all right?" He questioned.

"Yeah." Laura answered quickly, wishing she knew just how flustered she looked. She stepped aside to let Sam into the apartment. It figured that she had spent so much extra time on her appearance, only to have her work destroyed in seconds by her bratty little sister.

Sam introduced himself to Laura's mother and tried to do the same with Tessa, but the younger girl just sat on the kitchen table, swinging her legs and glaring at him like a prison warden. Laura glared at her sister and then looked back at Sam. "Don't pay attention to her, she's being a brat tonight."

"Mom!" Tessa cried indignantly, causing Sam to wince. "Laura called me a brat!"

Michelle looked over at her daughter. "What did I tell you about calling your sister names?" She snapped and Laura wanted to kill someone, most likely herself. This could not be happening, her mother and sister could not be doing this to her in front of Sam. "Now apologize."

That's it, Laura decided, she was finding the shotgun. "Mom-" She whispered, motioning toward Sam with a look that her mother hoped would understand and decide to be a little less like her usual self.

"No," Michelle interrupted, "you don't have to show off for this boy." Laura figured if she'd been near a wall, she would have started banging her head against it. "Now apologize to your sister."

Sam gave Laura a quick smile that let her know that he'd had his fair share of embarrassing paternal moments. Laura mumbled a quick 'sorry' to Tessa, who grinned, quite pleased with herself.

Once Michelle had decided that her parenting duties were over, she gave her youngest daughter a kiss on the cheek and her oldest daughter a scowl before hurrying out of the apartment. Laura found herself too embarrassed to look over at Sam, who offered her sympathetic smile and rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad I don't have any sisters." He remarked, not quite sure how that would help.

Laura glared at Tessa. "Well, if she keeps this up for much longer, I won't have any sisters either." She threatened, though she was paying more attention to Sam's hand on her shoulder then anything else.

Tessa stuck her tongue out at Laura and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm telling Mom." She declared, though Laura didn't know just what she was going to tell their mother.

Sam looked at the younger girl. "How old are you?" He questioned, innocently enough so that Tessa decided to answer him.

"Ten."

Sam looked surprised. "You could've fooled me." He remarked and Tessa glared at him. Sam gave her an innocent smile.

Tessa looked at her sister. "He's perfect for you, Laura," she said, "because you're both mean." She hopped off the table and hurried off down the hallway toward her bedroom, where she would begin plotting all kinds of mischief, if Laura wasn't mistaken.

Both Sam and Laura blushed slightly, and Sam took his hand off Laura's shoulder, even though the only witness to his actions was now out of the room. Laura sighed; this was not at all how she imagined this evening to go. "It's going to be a long night."


	3. The Children

Chapter Three

The Children

Sam sat on the couch and instantly found three pairs of eyes staring at him. Somewhat startled, because he wasn't used to being the center of such unwanted attention, he stared back at the owners of the eyes: three of the children that he was in charge of for the night.

The kids were seated on the floor, sitting cross-legged and staring at him with perfectly expressionless faces as though they were posing for a camera and Sam found the whole effect slightly unnerving. They were even sitting in order of youngest to oldest, with four-year old Stevie Sanders imitating five-year-old Mia Reynolds, who was trying to act as though eight-year-old Erika Flowers had copied _her_ wide-eyed pose.

Sam cleared his throat and shifted on the couch, trying to elicit some motion from the children. "Hey, guys." He finally remarked, smiling uncertainly. "Shouldn't you be playing or something?"

Erika stuck her bottom lip out, the perfect pouting expression. "I want to go home." She told him frankly. "I want my mother."

"Me too." Seconded Mia, who nodded her head vigorously, causing her plastic tiara to go slipping off her head and onto the floor. The girl was dressed from head to toe like every Disney movie princess Sam had ever known, complete with fabric slippers that were imitations of Cinderella's glass ones, Snow White's dress and Princess Jasmine's tiara. Frankly, the kid freaked Sam out but what made him even more uncomfortable was the fact that her parents actually allowed her to dress like a five-year-old hooker.

Sam sighed. "Well, you're going to be staying over here for a while." He told the girls. "Okay?"

"No." Erika told him primly. "I want to go home. I can stay by myself."

Sam looked anxiously toward the door, where Laura was still standing, assuring the parents of the latest drop-off that everything was under control. Laura seemed to be more prepared to handle these children then he was; after all, she'd babysat them before and had a younger sister. Here he was, with no siblings and no idea how to amuse three kids who seemed to believe that fun was staring at him like the demon from _The Exorcist._

But he couldn't let these kids drive him to seek Laura's immediate assistance because this was his chance to prove that he was capable of handling himself outside an academic situation. How was it going to look if he had to drag her into the living room to get the kids' attention away from him.

"Why don't you go play tag." Sam suggested. "Or Twister."

Erika looked at him. "We're in the house." She told him, as if Sam hadn't observed this fact himself. "We can't play tag." She was only eight but she talked as though she was twenty-one and acted like it as well. Sam wished that he could just stick a movie on, _Finding Nemo _maybe, and put the kids to bed. Then maybe he could have his alone time with Laura.

"Fine, not tag then." Sam said but before he could suggest anything else, the youngest child spoke up.

"I want to play tag!" Stevie cried, leaping to his feet. "I'm fast like a cheetah! No one can catch me!" He then proceeded to take off running into the kitchen.

Sam got off the couch and hurried after him. "No running in the house." He shouted, very aware that Laura and the parent she was talking to were now paying attention to him. He grabbed Stevie by the arm and yanked him to a halt. "Go watch television."

Stevie yanked away from him and glared. "No." He snapped with four-year-old authority. "I hate T.V.!" This, of course, was a lie but he knew very well that _Sponge-Bob Squarepants _was not on and if this unknown teenage boy was going to stick him in room with a bunch of girls then he was not going down without a fight.

Sam took his arm again and pulled him back toward the living room. "Of course you like T.V." He argued. "All kids like T.V."

"I don't." Said the ever verbal Erika. "I like reading and painting."

Sam groaned. "Of course you do." He mumbled, shoving Stevie back into the room. "Find something to play with." He commanded all three of the children, casting another glance toward Laura. It appeared that she was just wrapping it up with the over-bearing mother.

Laura offered the woman with a name she couldn't quite remember her most winning smile and said, "Don't worry, everything will be fine. You can have a good time and not have to worry about a thing."

The nameless woman looked at her nine-year-old son with a look of motherly love and worry. "I don't know...it's the first time Frankie's ever been away from home."

Her son whirled to face her with a look of anger spreading across his face. "Mom!" He shouted loud enough to surely catch the attention of the people in the surrounding apartments. "I told you! My name is not Frankie, it's Agent Cody Banks! Cody Banks!"

Laura looked at the kid in surprise, not finding it hard to believe anymore that Frankie had never been away from home. "Right." She said, managing to keep the smile on her face. She looked back at the mother. "He's in good hands." She promised.

"All right." The woman agreed finally with a smile. "I suppose I trust you; I mean, your mother is such a wonderful woman."

Laura wanted to ask if this woman was talking about the same Michelle Chapman but managed to keep her thoughts to herself and nod. "Right." She said once more with a more hesitant smile. "That's my mother."

The woman bent down and kissed her son on the cheek, ruffling his hair. "Now you be good Frankie and call Mommy if you need anything."

"It's Agent Cody Banks!" Frankie cried just as Laura slammed the door shut, more then happy to separate the woman from her very strange son. "Cody Banks." The kid remarked again, looking up at Laura. "How hard is that to remember?"

Laura shrugged. "I don't know." She mumbled briskly, ushering him toward the living room. "Go play with the other kids." She commanded before following him into the living room.

The sight she was greeted with caused her to laugh out loud before she could stop herself. Sam was sitting on the couch, staring once again at a trio of children that were studying him as though he were something they had never seen before. Sam looked like he was thinking the same thing and the expression on his face was too adorable not to laugh at.

Sam looked over at her when she entered, looking at first a little hurt by her laughter. "What's so funny?" He questioned, his eyes flicking back to the kids. Before Laura could answer, he noticed that another child had joined the pack. "Oh great, we've got another one." He mumbled, looking at the boy. "What's your name?"

"Agent Cody Banks." Frankie answered promptly, sitting down next to Stevie and nudging him. "You wanna fight? I can be Cody Banks and you can be the bad guy."

Stevie looked at him. "Yeah!" He agreed quickly. "I watch wrestling, I will take you down!"

Laura looked at the boys with wide eyes before deciding that now would be the time to intervene. "No, there will be no wrestling in the living room." She paused. "Or ever. Find a nicer game to play."

Stevie looked at Laura and crossed his pudgy four-year-old arms crossed his equally pudgy chest. "I want to fight." He told her slowly. "I'm going to fight you too."

Sam got off the couch. "No fighting." He repeated, wishing that he was coming to Laura's aid for something a little bit more dramatic. That way he could really feel like a knight in shining armor. "Find some toys to play with."

"There are no toys." Erika informed him. "I already checked."

Laura shot Sam an apologetic glance. "We grew out of the toys years ago." She told him.

Before anything more could be said, a shrill whistle filled the apartment, causing Sam and Laura to wince. Mia looked as though the sound was something to cry about and her chin started quivering and she clutched her Disney Princess blanket close against her chest. "What was that?" She questioned almost fearfully.

Sam was about to ask the same thing but he noticed that Laura was already narrowing her eyes and shaking her head slowly. "She wouldn't." She mumbled to herself and Sam decided she could only be referring to one person. Tessa.

Another whistle, louder this time and even more obnoxious, filled the apartment and seconds later, Tessa emerged from her bedroom with a white, plastic recorder in her mouth and an Easy-Bake Oven box in her hands. Announcing herself once more by blowing on the recorder, Tessa grinned at her sister as though she could do no wrong.

Laura stalked toward the girl and snatched the recorder out of Tessa's mouth before she could blow in it again. "What did Mom tell you about playing this damn thing in the house?" She snapped, brandishing the world's most annoying instrument.

Tessa narrowed her eyes at her. "I'm practicing." She answered sharply. "For school." She knew that if there was one thing Laura hated the most in the world, it was loud noises and she could think of no louder noise then that of the recorder.

"Outside." Laura reminded her. "Mom said you practice outside."

"It's eight thirty." Tessa told Laura. "Do you want me to get kidnapped?"

"Yes." Laura answered and shoved her sister toward the door. "Have a good time and don't come back until late."

Tessa whirled around to face Laura once again and kicked her in the shin. "I'm telling Mom that you want me to die." She told her sister, who was trying to act as though the kick hadn't caught her off guard or, worse, actually hurt. "I hate you Laura."

Sam watched the sisterly conflict with a great deal of interest, trying to decide when the best time to come to Laura's aid would be. The only good thing about the fight was that it had mesmerized the other children, making them abandon their own hopes of becoming Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Not at all bothered by the comment, Laura watched as her sister walked into the kitchen and proceeded to open her Easy-Bake Oven box and dump it all over the counter. "What are you doing?" She questioned. "Clean that up and go to your room."

"No." Tessa snapped, plugging in the oven. "I want to bake." She looked at the younger girls. "Do you guys want to help me?"

Sam saw what Tessa was doing perhaps even before Laura did and decided to jump in before Tessa could rally her little crew of minions. "No, there's no baking." He told them. "It's too late to bake; it's time to start calming down and go to sleep."

Erika stood up. "My mother says that I don't have a bedtime." She informed him. "Because I am old enough to make my own choices." She looked at Tessa. "And I choose to bake a cupcake."

Mia jumped to her feet as well, clutching her blanket and tiara to her chest. "Me too!" She shouted, making Laura wince. Why was it that all kids believed that in order to be heard they had to scream? "Cupcakes!"

"Absolutely not." Laura stated, heading over to where Tessa was "innocently" looking over the ingredients for making cupcakes. She unplugged the oven. "Put that away Tessa and go do your homework."

"You're not fun, Laura." Tessa told her as she reluctantly shoved the oven back into it's box. She then looked at Sam. "I hope you have a good time when you're married, being mean and having no fun." Tessa looked back at Laura. "And studying."

Laura hit her sister with the recorder. "Go to your room, Tessa." She shoved her sister in that direction. "And don't come out for the rest of the night."

Tessa stuck her tongue out at Laura. "You can't tell me what to do." She told her. "You're not my mother."

Sam looked at Laura, wishing that he had something comforting to say but the only thing he could think about was the fact that Tessa had obviously hit a nerve when she mentioned marriage. Was it possible that Laura was that unattracted to him that the thought of marriage was too much to handle? Or was it something else?

Before Sam could pursue this matter any further in his mind, he noticed that Stevie had climbed onto the fireplace and was about to body slam the unsuspecting Frankie. On top of it all, the two girls looked close to tears.

"But-" Mia pouted, "I want to bake."

Erika looked at Laura. "Your sister can at least leave the oven." She told her reasonably. "That way we don't all have to be punished because you want to marry that boy." She pointed back at Sam but didn't look at him.

Both Sam and Laura were so caught off guard by the remark that neither of them noticed when Stevie leapt off the fireplace and landed on Frankie. Both boys instantly started wailing, which set Mia to crying and Erika to shouting about how everything was too loud.

Laura and Sam both rushed to the screaming boys, pulling them off one another. Laura noticed that, while Stevie's intentions had been to body slam the boy with a identity disorder, he had only managed to bang his face against the hardwood floor and kick Frankie in the stomach.

"This is just great." Laura mumbled, scooping Stevie into her arms and heading for the bathroom. She was halfway there when the doorbell rang, causing her to cast a panicked glance in Sam's direction. "Can you answer that?"

"Of course." Sam told her, but doubted that Laura could hear him over the screaming children. One knight-in-shining armor to the rescue, he thought, leaving behind the crying children and putting on his best 'I have no idea where that screaming is coming from' look as he answered the door.

The woman standing on the other side already had a concerned look on her face. "Is everything all right?" She questioned, looking at Sam intently.

"Of course." Sam assured her. "That's just the T.V." _Oh, good one Hall, _he thought, _she'll never see through that. _But he kept that smile on his face.

The woman didn't look so sure but something else had entered her mind. "I thought Michelle had a daughter." She said.

"Oh, she does." Sam answered quickly. "I'm just Laura's friend from school, here to help her baby sit." He had kept that smile on his face so long that it was beginning to feel fake.

"Hmm..." The woman mumbled. "I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that." She peered past Sam, as though searching for something. "Are then any adults here?"

Sam wanted to slap that woman; of course there were no adults here, that was the point of having teenagers baby sit. But before he could come up with any acceptable response, Tessa appeared, pushing him aside and smiling at the woman. "I'm here Ms. Gesner." Sam looked down at the pint-sized Chapman, who had a smile on her face that would have been as charming as Laura's if it hadn't been so evil. "I'll make sure everyone behaves themselves."

The woman, whom Sam assumed was Ms. Gesner, smiled at Tessa. Sam couldn't believe this was happening; how could this little terror come in and under-mind him and make everything all right? He always thought he was a trust worthy looking guy, but it appeared at a ten-year old who would kick her gorgeous sister had more going for her.

"And just how are the twins?" Tessa continued, looking away from the mother and to the children.

For the first time, Sam thought to look at them too, not liking the way Tessa had addressed them. Twins? Maybe they were fraternal.

No such luck. The five-year-old boys standing in front of their mother were identical, down to the clothes they wore and the dimples in their cheeks. Sam wanted to beat his head against the door; how were they supposed to tell the difference between these boys? She could have at least dressed them differently.

"They're fine." Ms. Gesner stated proudly, resting one hand on each child's shoulder. She looked up at Sam, her smile fading slightly. "This one is Jake." She said, gesturing toward the one on the left. "And this is Jack."

"Cute." Sam mumbled, deadpan. Even their names were similar; did this woman want her kids to grow up with no separate identities? "Okay, well, there's lots of other children for them to play with so I'm sure they'll be fine."

Ms. Gesner nodded and nudged her boys into the apartment. She looked at Tessa. "Keep an eye on them." She advised.

"Like a hawk." Tessa promised and bid the woman goodbye, shutting the door. As soon as the door was shut, she turned toward Sam. "Like a hawk Sam, a hawk." She informed. "And do you know what hawks do? They eat the weak, loser mice that try to sleep with their sisters."

Sam's mouth dropped open. "What?" He said, so confused that was all he could manage. "What are you talking about?" This was one strange child. A strange child with the gift of reading minds it seemed.

Tessa nodded knowingly. "Oh yes, I have you all figured out Sam." She informed him. "And I know what you're planning on doing with my sister. Just remember," she paused for dramatic effect but Sam wouldn't let her finish.

"I know, you're like a hawk." He finished, feeling his cheeks flush. It seemed as thought if you were under the age of twelve, you were blessed with the ability to learn that his every thought was about Laura and with the ability to embarrass him. Tessa nodded, appearing not to notice that she had just been made fun of. "Go to your room, Bird-Man."

Tessa narrowed her eyes. "You can't send me to my room. I don't even know you." She told him. Sam half expected her to shout out for her mother, and, upon realizing that her mother wasn't around, expected her to shout for her sister. But, she did neither and instead, stalked back toward her bedroom.

Sam was still trying to process what had happened and prayed that Laura hadn't over heard any of their conversation. If she believed, even for a minute, that all he wanted to do was get her in bed, then not only would he hate himself, but there'd be no chance of him ever being able to tell her how he really felt.

Luckily, Laura was still in the bathroom with the screaming Stevie and the children were still crying in the living room, making it impossible to hear anything. Sam looked back at the twins, who were staring at him expectantly. At least they were quiet.

Within seconds, Jack and Jake started up a battle-cry and went racing into the living room to join the fray. Confused as to how the innocent, quite children had suddenly disappeared, Sam followed them into the living room. "Quiet!" He shouted as soon as he entered, silencing every noise.

Mia looked at him accusingly. "You yelled at me." She told him. "You can't yell at princesses."

Erika looked at Sam. "I want to bake on the Easy Bake Oven." She told him. "And I want to go home."

Sam sighed. "Me too." He mumbled. "Me too." 

_So, there you go; the babysitting madness is about to begin. Just for the record, I'd like to say that every single child in this story, my best friend and I actually babysat one time (yes they were all together like that), including the twins that the mother thought would be hilarious to dress alike. Well, lady, it's not cute okay! Also, a shout-out to my four-year-old brother, even though he won't be reading this probably ever, whose real name is Caden: I know you're fast like a cheetah, a dying cheetah. Anyway, thanks for the great reviews, I'm glad everyone is liking this sort of unusual DAT story._


	4. Close Quarters

Chapter Four

Close Quarters

Laura knew that, through the course of the night, the children were bound to get hungry. She just didn't think it would happen so soon. Or, more accurately, she hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with it.

In fact, she would have rather dealt with the screaming mass of children in the living room. Mia was still crying about how it wasn't right to yell at princesses and, of course, she was a princesses. And Erika wouldn't give up the fight about baking in the Easy Bake Oven and Laura wanted to rip the oven away from her sister and peg it at the eight-year-old.

Frankie was sitting in Sam's lap, not seeming to get the message that Sam wasn't too eager to have such close company, and telling him about all the secret gadgets that Agent Cody Banks had. Stevie was running around in circles in the living room, repeating over and over again how fast he was, though it appeared as though he was slowly tiring out. And the twins, Jack and Jake were watching the whole scene with wide eyes, their gazes perfects reflections of one another.

"But I-" Erika was saying, drawing in a deep breath for dramatic effect, "want to bake a cupcake."

Laura sighed and rubbed her temples, feeling a massive migraine coming on. "I know honey." She replied as patiently as possible. "But we're not going to do that right now." She was going to kill her sister for ever bringing that stupid Easy Bake Oven out; Tessa hadn't used that oven in years and she just happened to drag it out when there were little kids in the house. It was sabotage...

Erika glared at her. "Don't call me honey." She snapped indignantly. "I am not your honey!"

"Okay." Laura held up her hands in defense. "Sorry. But there's still going to be no baking."

Erika looked as though she was trying to weigh her options of dealing with Laura's refusal and decided that the best way around it would be to pitch a fit. Which was exactly what she did. "I want to bake!" She shrieked, stomping her foot on the floor hard enough to rattle the picture frames on the mantle.

Sam covered his ears with his hands and looked over to where Laura and Erika were standing and looked at the brunette who had captured his heart. "What's the matter?" He questioned, wincing when Erika gave up shouting words and had decided that howling would be the best way to get her way.

Laura didn't answer and took Erika's arm, jerking her forward gently and catching the girl by surprise. "Be quiet." She instructed with the tone she only reserved for her own little sister. You're not going to bake and if you don't straighten up, I'm going to tell your mother."

Erika stuck her bottom lip out as far as it would go, crocodile tears shining in her eyes as she jerked away from Laura. "You're not the boss of me." She declared, though it appeared that Laura's words had found their mark. She walked over to the couch and sat down, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

Once Erika had stopped her attempt at a temper tantrum, the twin boys looked from Laura to Sam and then back again, attempting to size their sitters up. They had discovered long ago that if they were at their worst, a babysitter couldn't handle one of them, let alone the both of them and it had become their favorite game to run their sitters ragged. It was something their mother found "adorable", though she was the only one. The boys found it punishment for being away from their own home.

"I'm hungry." Jake declared, elbowing his brother who seconded the statement. "Feed me." He looked at Laura and Jack, in turn, did the exact same thing.

Laura looked at the boys and then over at Sam, who was nodding absently at something Frankie was saying. Looking back at the twins she said, "I don't know guys, haven't you already eaten?"

Unwilling to be foiled so easily, Jake got to his feet and hurled himself at Laura, wrapping his arms around her legs and clinging. "I'm hungry now!" He cried. "I want food!"

Jack also collided with Laura, knocking the unprepared girl to the hardwood floor. Sam was on his feet almost instantly, pulling the twins off her and helping Laura to her feet before they could inflict further damage. Laura smiled slightly at him, and opened her mouth to speak but Jack crossed his arms over his chest and slammed his tennis shoe covered foot on top of Laura's bare on as hard as he could.

Laura couldn't stop herself from crying out in surprise and stepped away from the boy before he could step on her again. This action, unfortunately, caused her to let go of Sam's hand but she figured that she would rather retain feeling in her foot and hold his hand later.

"I want food!" The toe-stomper shouted and his brother took up the cry. "Hamburgers! Fries! Ice cream!"

At the mention of ice cream, Mia finally stopped her sniffles about the proper treatment of princesses and joined in. "Yeah! Ice cream! Princess Mia wants ice cream!"

Erika decided that pouting wasn't as fun as ice cream and jumped off the couch, nearly crashing into Stevie, who had collapsed on the floor, and whacked Sam in the back to get his attention. "I would like some ice cream too." She said, though she was too impatient to be polite. "Now!"

Sam looked at Laura, who was looking back at him, her doe-eyes even wider. They were surrounded by a mob of kids demanding ice cream and if Sam had learned anything, it was not to separate children from their ice cream. "Uh...maybe there's something with less sugar you could have." He pointed out, not even sure if Laura had any ice cream.

"Right." Laura agreed. "Like toast or waffles..." She smiled hopefully.

Waffles sounded quite pleasant to Erika. "All right." She agreed thoughtfully. "That might be okay."

And it would have been okay if Tessa hadn't swooped in at that moment, ever the hawk she claimed to be, from where she had been listening near the door with a devious smile on her face. Nonchalantly, she headed into the kitchen and opened the freezer, taking out a carton of Cookie Dough ice cream and making a big show of setting it on the counter and getting a bowl out of the cabinet.

Jake happened to notice that Tessa was deliberately dishing out scoops of ice cream and jabbed his finger in her direction. "She's got ice cream!" He shouted, catching the other children's attention. "I want some!" He went rushing into the kitchen.

"No!" Laura shouted, in vain, as the children went running past her and into the kitchen, crowding around Tessa. She looked at her sister and narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to kill you." She threatened.

Tessa looked at her innocently, blinking her eyes. "What did I do?" She questioned. "I just wanted a snack?" However, it appeared that her snack was no longer important because she rushed out of the kitchen, as though fearing that mob of children that had gathered around her.

Laura looked at Sam with an exhausted look in her eyes. "This is getting out of control." She told him. "We've got to do something."

Sam nodded, though all he was thinking about was how he wanted to kill everyone one of the kids so that Laura didn't have to look at him with that frazzled look in her eyes. He wanted to be able to make everything all right again and for her to smile at him.

Erika, being the tallest of the demons, reached up and snatched the ice cream carton off the counter. This, however, left her with the problem of getting the ice cream out of the carton and into her mouth and the prospect of sticking her fingers inside wasn't too appealing.

Stevie, however, didn't have that problem and snatched the carton away from her, sticking his fingers into the ice cream and grabbing a large handful. As soon as the freezing desert was in his hand, he let out a surprised cry as though he didn't expect it to be cold and tossed the carton on the floor and the ice cream at Frankie.

The ice cream hit Frankie in the forehead Jack or Jake snatched up the carton and tossed it to the other brother. The boy caught it and stuck his face into the carton and started licking the edges.

"Hey, hey, stop." Sam commanded and hurried into the kitchen, snatching the carton away from the boy before he could get his sugar fix. "That's not how we eat ice cream, Jake."

The boy with the ice cream around his lips glared at Sam. "I'm not Jake!" He shouted. "I'm Jack."

The other twin looked at his brother. "I want to be Jack." He declared with a pout, stomping his foot. "I don't want to be Jake."

Laura was too perplexed by this display of twin confusion to do anything but stand behind the group of kids and try and sort out their identities. Sam was too busy attempting to hold Stevie away from the carton. Mia had started crying again and Erika was watching the whole ordeal like she was watching a movie; Frankie was also crying, yelling about how no one threw ice cream at Agent Cody Banks.

Jack snatched the carton away from Sam and went to toss it to his brother. However, his toss was too high and the carton managed to hit Laura square in the face; all the children turned to see Laura's reaction to the well aimed missile, suddenly silent and mesmerized.

The carton landed in Laura's hands after pegging her in the forehead and she stared straight ahead, dazed and blinking, unable to process what just happened. Sam noticed that there was ice cream melting down her forehead but he seemed to be the only one. "Laura-" He stepped toward her but the children beat him to it.

"She's got the ice cream!" Stevie declared, deciding that Laura's reaction to being hit in the face with a carton of ice cream wasn't exciting enough for him. He shoved Mia out of the way and tried to snatch the carton away from Laura.

Laura recovered just as Stevie wrapped his fat fingers around her wrist and tried to shake the ice cream loose. "No." She snapped, though there was little force behind her words. "For the last time no-"

"Ice cream!" Stevie cried, hitting Laura in the arm. "I want it!"

Sam figured that they had no other choice other then to give the kids what they asked for, especially since Jake had decided that he was going to scale Laura in order to reach the ice cream.

Laura decided that these kids had just gotten out of hand and there was no choice other then what she was about to do. Taking the ice cream carton, she hurled it into the living room. "Ice cream!" She shouted. "Go get it!"

Almost instantly, the children abandoned their harassment of Laura, charging into the living room after the topless carton. Laura grabbed Sam's arm and pulled him toward the bathroom at the end of the hall and Sam followed without question, hoping to make a quick escape before the children decided that ice cream wasn't enough. Laura pushed Sam inside and slammed the door shut behind them, locking it and leaning against the shut door with a sigh of relief.

Sam thought that he would have felt the same sense of relief if he hadn't been so preoccupied with the fact that he was in a small bathroom, which barely had space for one person, with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. He was close enough to her that with one step, he'd nearly be on top of her and one step back would send him stumbling over the toilet.

Laura, however, didn't seem to notice the close quarters and looked at him with exhaustion her eyes. "I don't know what to do, Sam." She sighed. "Those kids are out of control."

Sam nodded in agreement, swallowing and trying to think about something other then how beautiful Laura looked at that moment, with her brown eyes sparkling and her hair disheveled. Not to mention that sticky ice cream that was drying on her forehead. "Have you ever babysat for them before?" He questioned.

"Yes." Laura answered. "But not all at once." She banged her head lightly against the bathroom door. "Not to mention my little bitch sister. I'm going to kill her."

Sam found himself amused by Laura's sudden anger and couldn't keep the smile off his face. Laura looked at him quizzically. "What's so funny?" She questioned, suddenly feeling self-conscious. She felt that whenever Sam smiled at her, because she always wondered if she had done something wrong.

"Nothing." Sam told her. "Except you've got some ice cream on your forehead."

Laura looked at her reflection in the mirror and frowned, feeling her cheeks color with embarrassment as she looked away from Sam. "I've been through a lot of things babysitting." She mumbled, staring down at the sink. "But I've never been hit with a carton of ice cream."

Sam's grin grew wider and Laura was reminded of just how adorable and utterly sexy the gesture was. She looked over at him again, and saw that he had taken a wad of toilet paper and was attempting to reach the sink to dampen it. She moved out of his way, pressing herself again against the door, suddenly aware that her heart was pounding in her chest and her mouth had gone dry. And had it suddenly gotten very hot in the bathroom? Was it a little cramped?

"Here." Sam said, his voice suddenly low, his mouth dry as he moved to hand her the damp makeshift cloth. Laura couldn't seem to remind her body to move and take it from him, so Sam moved closer to her and dabbed at her forehead lightly.

Laura swallowed as Sam trailed the cloth across her forehead and down her cheek, where she didn't think she had any ice cream but didn't really care. Sam was aware that his hand had started shaking and he felt like a total idiot, but he couldn't stop himself from running the wet paper down her cheek. Lightly he brushed the tips of his fingers against her skin, suddenly aware that he couldn't really remember to breathe.

Sam was only vaguely aware that he was even moving as he leaned closer to Laura, kissing her gently and discarding the cloth all together so that he could run his fingers through her thick curls. Laura's eyes fluttered closed as she slipped her arms around Sam's shoulders, pulling herself closer against him. Everything was so absolutely perfect and she thought she could die happy right there if only Sam would keep kissing her. Yes, she knew that she had been waiting for this moment ever since Brian had introduced her to Sam and it was even more perfect then she had imagined, more wonderful then-

Heavy pounding from the opposite side of the door interrupted Laura's thoughts and their kiss, surprising Sam so that he unintentionally pulled away from her. Laura looked at him, wishing to feel his lips against hers once more and would have kissed him again if not for the loud banging that reminded her that, unfortunately, she had responsibilities.

Sam smiled faintly at her, brushing her tangled locks away from her face gently; Laura rested her hand on top of his, holding it against her cheek. She could have stayed that way forever, if not for the continuous pounding from the other side of the door.

"We know you're in there!" Erika informed them loudly, just as someone kicked against the door. "Come out now!"

To make matters even worse, Tessa's voice joined the shouts of the children too young to really understand what might happen if you were locked in a bathroom with someone. "Yes, come out Laura." She suggested and Laura sighed. "Or I'm telling Mom."

"Of course you are." Sam mumbled somewhat sympathetically and offered Laura another smile. "Is there anything she doesn't tell your mother?"

"Only when she's the one that's in trouble." Laura answered with a sigh, moving away from Sam in order to unlock the door.

As soon as the door swung open, the gaggle of children scattered, as though they feared the wrath of their sitters, leaving Tessa leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest and a smug smile on her face. "You might want to fix your lipstick Laura." She advised. "It's a little smudged." With that, she turned and headed back down the hallway toward her room.

With a parting glance filled with unspoken longing and regret, Sam and Laura turned their attention toward the living room, which looked as though a hurricane had struck in the minutes that the children were alone. Ice cream was everywhere ice cream could be: on the walls, smeared on the couch cushions and on the kids themselves.

This didn't seem to bother the children, however, because they were running around the destroyed living room throwing whatever they could get their hands on. Frankie was waging an all out Agent Cody Banks war against Stevie while Jack and Jake were beating each other senseless with couch cushions. Mia was braiding shoelaces into her hair and Erika was drawing contently on her legs with pink Sharpie.

Sam looked at Laura. "Ready for this?" He questioned and raised an eyebrow.

Laura sighed. "No."

Sam's smile vanished as he looked back at the children. "Me neither."

There you go Lucie, another chapter just for you. So, thanks for all the great reviews from everyone; yes, I totally agreed that we were nuts to try and watch all these kids. Believe me, it gets worse (and it was even worse when we got paid...oh boy). So, keep up those reviews, you know I love you guys for it. By the way, Lily, I'm just dying to know why you haven't reviewed the latest chapter of Made to be Broken. I mean, you've reviewed everything else; just out to get me or something? Just kidding. 


	5. The Whys of Babysitting

Chapter Five

The "Whys" of Babysitting

Laura was utterly at a loss of what to do with the children that had been entrusted in her care for the night. She figured she'd be more up to thinking about it if she wasn't too busy thinking about Sam and the way it had felt to kiss him. It had been so perfect, the most wonderful moment of her life and she dreaded that it had to end. Especially because of the demons destroying her living room that called themselves children.

"Okay guys," Laura spoke as loudly as she could without shouting, clapping her hands together in an attempt to get the attention of the gaggle of kids. No such luck, they were too busy tearing things up and beating on each other to pay much attention to her. "Guys! Listen!" Now she was shouting.

Sam looked over at her and raised an eyebrow; he hadn't thought this his sweet Laura was capable of shouting. Apparently neither had the children, because they all stopped what they were doing to stare at her.

Laura smiled, trying to act as though they were paying attention to her because she had asked them to and not because she had shouted. "That's better." She began. "Now, you're going to stop hitting each other, stop destroying my living room and stop drawing on yourself." She snatched the Sharpie away from Erika. "All right?"

"Boo!" Stevie shouted. "You're no fun!" He looked at Sam, who dreaded what the child had to say next. "Guys are more fun then stupid girls."

"Girls are not stupid." Erika snapped, getting to her feet and stalking over toward Stevie. "We're smarter, prettier and stronger then boys."

Stevie glared at her. "Oh yeah?" He questioned and moved to step on the girl's foot. Sam saw his intentions and pulled Erika away from him before Stevie's foot could make contact and start yet another round of crying. Stevie glared at Sam and crossed his arms over his chest. "That's not fair!" He cried. "You're stupid too."

"Enough!" Laura snapped, holding up her hands. "Stop yelling and stop fighting. Everyone is going to calm down now and get ready for bed; I'll put in a movie."

Mia seemed to like this idea and jumped to her feet. "A movie!" She cried happily. "Let's watch _The Princess Diaries _or _The Swan Princess _or maybe _The Princess-_" She started before one of the twins cut her off.

"Those are stupid girl movies." Jake told the youngest girl. "Those movies are dumb. Let's watch a _good _movie, like _The Terminator_." He paused for a moment. "Or _Monsters Inc._"

Sam tried to figure out the possible connection between those too movies but didn't have much time to think because a screaming match had started again. The boys in the room were all demanding to watch different movies, better movies then the last boy had named and looked close to coming to blows. "Guys, quit it." Sam commanded, clapping his hands to get their attention away from each other. "Be civil toward each other."

Jack turned to look at the older boy and studied him closely. "Why?" He questioned, peering into Sam's face with a blank expression on his face.

"Why what?" Sam questioned, slightly confused.

"Why do we have to be..." Jack paused, "cibil to each other?" He couldn't quite grasp the word, something that Sam would have found cute if it had been any other time and, more then likely, any other kid.

Sam sighed. "Because we all have to get along and be friends."

"Why?" Jack pressed, crossing his arms across his chest. "Why?"

Sam looked over at Laura and raised an eyebrow; Laura smiled slightly at him, an encouraging smile that more then did the job. "Because," Sam looked back at the children, "that's the good thing to do."

"Why?" Jack could not be pleased.

"That's just how life works." Sam snapped, fed up and exhausted with dealing with the kids. "Now shut up and get ready to watch a movie." Before Jack could open his mouth, Sam added, "And if you say 'why' again you're going to bed."

Jack shut his mouth quickly and looked away from Sam, trying to find something more interesting then the bossy teenage boy. Sam smiled, somewhat pleased with himself. "All right, now that that's under control." He turned toward Laura again.

"Sam, the movies are under the T.V., just pick one and I'm going to start cleaning the living room." Laura said, and headed for the kitchen, not looking forward to the daunting task in front of her. But she was looking forward even less to her mother coming home and finding the living room and complete disaster, so she figured scrubbing the walls and couch cushions was the lesser of two evils.

Sam opened the cabinet doors on the bottom of the entertainment center and found an array of Disney movies filed away neatly in alphabetical order. For a brief moment he wondered if the order of the movies had been Michelle's command or just something Laura had done in order to momentarily please her mother. Regardless of the reason, the system was destroyed upon seconds of Sam opening the cabinet by the quick moving hands of the kids that had swarmed him.

"Guys, calm down." Sam turned to the children, attempting to get them under control when he knew full well there was no such thing. Of course, the kids didn't listen to him, too busy shouting about the movies they had managed to grab and opening the box, flipping the tapes out.

Laura winced at the sound of the video tapes hitting the hard wood floor but she supposed it was better then the sound of the kids shoving each other into the floor. Of course, the entertainment of the black tapes could only last so long before another argument broke out but she had hoped they could go at least two minutes without hearing some kind of shouting.

That was not the case for Stevie hit Frankie in the head with the video case he held almost as soon as it was in his hand. "Simba could beat stupid Agent Cody Banks." He declared, hitting the older boy again. "He could just _eat _him."

Frankie hit Stevie back with the video in his hand. "No, Agent Cody Banks would just shoot Simba with his guns!" He cried, tears welling in his eyes either from being hit in the head with a plastic video or because his hero's honor was being tested. "Lions are stupid!"

"Stop!" Sam commanded, pulling the two boys apart and relinquishing them of their videos. "Can't you guys stop fighting for two seconds?" He didn't really expect an answer but, unfortunately, he got one.

But the answer was not from either of the boys who had been doing the fighting. "Why?" Jake questioned, trying to look like he hadn't just spoken by studying the back of the video cover for _Hercules_, even though it was upside-down.

Sam turned to face the twins, not quite sure which one had spoken but he wasn't too pleased. "What did I tell you about saying that?" He questioned, looking at both boys.

Jack pointed at his brother. "He said it!" He declared. "Don't yell at me."

"Meanie-head!" Jake declared, smacking his brother with the bent cover of _Hercules_, pushing him to the ground, on top of Sam. Jake lunged at his fallen brother; Sam held up his hand, trying in vain to keep the brother away from each other.

Laura ditched her cleaning supplies and pulled Jake away from his brother and Sam, holding him above the hardwood floor, ignoring his thrashing legs. Sam sat up, somewhat dazed from the bump he had suffered upon hitting the floor, and looked gratefully at Laura. However, she didn't catch his look because she was too busy trying to hold one twin away from the other.

"You're going to stop acting like this right now." Laura commanded, but her words meant nothing to the trashing boy. "Settle down and get ready to watch a movie."

Erika watched the whole ordeal with wide eyes. "I want to go home." She whimpered. "I don't like it here, it's too loud." She sniffed. "I want my mom."

"She'll be home soon Erika." Sam mumbled, tried of the child's constant complaints to go home. He didn't want those kids to be around any more then she did; he just wanted to spend a few minutes alone with Laura in peace. That way they could talk about their kiss in the bathroom and whether it meant as much to her as it had to him.

The twins finally managed to calm down; Frankie and Stevie's war about the strengths of Simba and Agent Cody Banks had been abandoned for another time. Sam thought it might be too good to be true, but it seemed as though the children were finally calming down, finally growing tired.

"Okay," Sam sighed and got to his feet, going over to the entertainment system and picking out the one movie that hadn't been snatched away by grubby hands. "We're going to watch this one." It was _Finding Nemo_, which, if he wasn't mistaken, was about a missing fish. Quality entertainment.

Erika peered at the video box and brightened a little. "_Finding Nemo_," She read aloud. "I love Nemo, how he has a bad fin."

"It's his _lucky _fin." Stevie supplied, rolling his eyes impatiently. "Get it right."

Laura was relieved that none of the kids had raised a fuss about Sam's choice in movies and wondered if she was imagining things when the children gathered around on the floor as the previews started rolling.

With an exhausted sigh, Sam sat on the part of the couch that wasn't covered with melting ice cream and Laura sat down beside him, debating for a moment how close she should sit. After deciding that you didn't kiss someone you didn't care for, she slid closer to Sam and rested her head on his shoulder. It was nice to sit down for a moment and be able to take a breath without worrying about whether or not something was about to get broken.

Sam was surprised, at first, by Laura's actions; even though they had kissed, he hadn't really expected anything out of it. He was always the pessimist. But it didn't seem like that was going to be the case after all because here was Laura, laying against him like they were something more then calculus classmates. Perhaps all the hell the children had put him through up until that point had all be worth it.

The movie started and the children were utterly captivated; Sam had never seen the movie before but he had to admit that it was somewhat interesting to watch, since the ocean landscape looked almost real. Not to mention the pair of clownfish, who were soon going to be parents to nearly a hundred eggs.

With a thoughtful expression on her face, Mia turned to look at the teenagers in the room. "Where do baby fish come from?" She questioned, then paused. "Where do babies come from?"

Laura felt her cheeks redden slightly. "Uh..." She had never expected to have to answer a question like that, especially not coming from a child that she hardly even knew.

Erika turned to look at the younger girl. "When the parents get together in bed, they make a baby." She explained succinctly. "Now be quiet and watch the movie."

Mia did as she was told, still baffled as to the answer to her question. None of the other children seemed to want to further discuss where babies came from. Instead, they seemed content to watch the movie, where the clownfish were being threatened by a spookily large barracuda, which didn't surprise him at all. What sort of Disney movie would it be without a massive tragedy of some kind?

The male clownfish tried to fight off the barracuda but he was too small and no match for the hungry fish. When the soon-to-be father fish regained fishy coconsciousness, which Sam couldn't figure out, he found that his wife, as well as all of his children had been eaten by the barracuda. Except for one: his son Nemo.

It was only when Marlin the Clownfish had decided to name the remaining egg Nemo, which had been his wife's wish, that Sam realized that Laura was attempting to nonchalantly wipe her eyes without lifting her head off his shoulder, acting as though she weren't even moving at all. Sam looked down at her and couldn't help but smile slightly. "You're crying." He remarked, causing Laura to look up.

Laura shook her head and wiped away the remaining tear off her cheek. "No, I'm not." She insisted in vain, keeping her attention on the television, where Nemo was now a fish excited for his first day of school.

Sam's smile grew ever wider. "Yes you are." He found the whole thing absolutely adorable, just like everything she did.

Laura looked up at him with a slight, embarrassed smile on her face. "It's sad." She gestured weakly toward the television screen. "I mean, his entire family gets killed except one son; it's just depressing."

Heart suddenly pounding in his chest, Sam slipped his arm around Laura's shoulders and pulled her against him again. He didn't dare do anything else, not in front of those ever present children and felt his heart beat speed up even more when Laura snuggled against him, resting her head on his shoulder once more. Sam was overcome with the urge to kiss Laura again and fighting it down was the hardest thing he had ever done. But knew that just being with her was enough and he wouldn't do anything to change that.

The movie progressed with the kids watching in silence and Sam and Laura enjoying being together on the couch. If it hadn't been for Laura's presence, Sam figured that he would be watching the movie just as intently as the children, but since being near Laura was weighing heavily in his mind, he found it hard to concentrate on Nemo swimming away from his father and toward a fishing boat.

The twins watched with open mouths as Nemo was captured by a scuba diver and Mia hid her face in her hands as Marlin rushed, confused, through the ocean, trying to find his son. Sam found himself laughing along with the children when Marlin met up with Dory, the angel-fish with a short-term memory.

To Laura, it appeared that the children had finally run out of energy and were going to peacefully watch the movies put in front of them for the remainder of the night. She should have known that it was too good to be true.

Frankie jumped to his feet when the trio of sharks who had decided to be vegetarians took Marlin and Dory to their meeting. "I'm a shark!" He declared, curling his fingers into claws and bearing his teeth. He growled at Mia. "I'm going to eat you, little fish." He threatened.

Jack got to his feet away and stood in front of Frankie. "Well, I'm Marlin and I won't let you eat that fish." He pushed Frankie away from Mia.

"Right." Jake stood beside his brother. "Fish are friends and not food."

Frankie waved his hand dismissively. "I'll just eat you too." He decided. "Because I'm the biggest shark in the world!" And with that, he leapt at one of the twins and they both crashed onto the floor.

Laura untangled herself from Sam and leapt to her feet, pulling the boys off one another and trying to hold them apart. Frankie, however, could not be calmed and swatted at Laura's arms, freeing himself and pouncing on Jack once again. Jake hurried to his brother's aid, jumping on Frankie's back and trying in vain to pull him away from Jack.

"Quiet guys!" Erika shouted, looking away from the movie with wide eyes. "I can't hear!"

Sam got to his feet and snatched Frankie around the waist, lifting him away from the crying twin he had pinned to the ground. "Get a hold of yourself, James Bond." He mumbled as he tried to hold the trashing child.

Laura helped Jack to his feet and the child instantly threw his arms around her waist and clung to her, crying into her shirt. Frankie managed to twist away from Sam and crashed to the ground, crawling toward Jack with the determination of someone facing down their worst enemy.

"Guys!" Erika whined, her voice becoming shrill as she started to cry. "Be quiet!" But her words went unheeded. Stevie was watching the fight with interest and Mia seemed quite content to speak to her invisible prince charming.

Sam grabbed Frankie by the ankles and lifted him, holding the child upside down so that his head was just inches from the hardwood floor. "Calm down." He commanded. "Or I'm going to drop you."

Laura hoped that Sam wouldn't do what he had threatened but his words seemed to do the trick because Frankie stopped shouting and wiggling and remained motionless, his bangs hanging in front of his eyes.

"Are you going to put me down?" Frankie questioned, crossing his arms over his chest and sighing. "The blood is rushing to my head."

Sam eased the kid back onto the floor, where he tumbled head over heels before managing to right himself. He smiled wryly at Laura as though nothing had ever happened and the brunette sighed as well. Sam might have managed to solve their current problem, but they still had a crying girl and several rowdy boys to deal with. They certainly weren't out of the woods yet.


	6. Playing Pretend

Chapter Six

Playing Pretend

Unfortunately, the children seemed to believe the same thing, unwilling to let their sitters enjoy even a moment of peace, still too riled up at nine thirty at night. With _Finding Nemo _forgotten, and another revolt temporarily broken up, the kids had to find something else to occupy their attention to. Erika sat on the floor, watching the other children with wide eyes, her knees drawn up against her chest, looking more miserable then either Sam or Laura felt. But not by much.

It was around that time that Stevie decided that he wasn't entertained enough and decided to make his own entertainment. He pulled the twins into a makeshift huddle, beckoning them close to him as he started whispering whatever mischievous plan that had entered his mind. Laura watched the boys with a growing sense of dread. "This can't be good." She mumbled to Sam as the boys disbanded, scattered around the living room to begin gathering whatever items they could come across.

Before either of them could blink, a bent video cover came hurtling through the air, narrowing missing Laura's forehead. Another followed in its wake, smacking Sam in the face before falling to the hardwood floor. Blinking, Sam forced himself to recover. "Absolutely no throwing." He commanded, stepping toward the children. This action only got him another item in the face, this tape a VHS tape.

Backing up, Sam snatched one of the plush pillows off the couch and held it in front of himself like a shield. Another projectile, a pewter candlestick, smacked against the fabric before clattering to the ground. Sam cautiously peeked out from behind the pillow, only to duck behind it again seconds later to avoid another video.

"Stop!" Laura shouted, attempting to gain control over the situation but not really in the mood to get hit in the face with whatever the kids happened to throw. "Right now!"

Of course, none of the boys listened to her and Frankie decided that he wanted to join in on this game. Erika watched with interested eyes, her gaze going from the throwers to the targets and back again, as though she wanted to see what they would do next. Mia had decided that now was an excellent time to have herself a tea party and so she was sitting on the floor with an imaginary tea set before her, talking to her Disney princess guests.

"I mean it," Laura continued, though she knew she was only wasting her breath, "stop throwing things!"

Sam pulled her out of the line of a flying candlestick and they huddled behind the oversized pillow. "This is out of control." Laura said, looking fearfully at Sam. "We're never going to be able to get these kids under control."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "There's got to be something we can do." He mumbled. "Some kind of-"

His thoughts were cut off by a well-aimed fire-poker, which clattered to the ground at his feet, just narrowly missing his legs. Sam jumped away from the flying metal poker, tumbling back onto the couch and bringing Laura down with him. They both pulled their feet onto the couch and cowered behind the cushion. Sam took a minute to appreciate how close Laura was to him, her shoulders pressed against his; she was even halfway in his lap in her attempt to hide behind the only shield they could find. Not that he was about to argue.

As the boys continued to shriek and throw whatever items they could at their hiding sitters, Erika decided that she was tired of watching the fun. She crawled over to where Mia was seated and tugged the girl's arm. "C'mon," she said, causing Mia to look up at her, "let's play with Laura."

Mia looked at her quizzically. "How are we supposed to play with her?" She asked. "She's hiding."

Erika got to her feet and pulled Mia up as well. "We'll just pull her off the couch and let the boys play with the boy." She suggested, tugging the younger girl toward the couch.

Mia's eyes lit up. "Can we play school?" She questioned before an even better idea entered her mind. "Or how 'bout baby?" It had always been her favorite game to play mother to her countless baby dolls and now she was going to have an actual person to react to her motherly treatments.

"Sure." Erika agreed, for the idea didn't sound to bad to her.

While the boys had paused in their assault, searching around for more things to hurl at Sam and Laura, Erika snatched the pillow out of the teenagers' hands and grabbed Laura by the wrist. "Play with us Laura." She commanded, catching the brunette off guard and yanking her off the couch and onto the floor. "You can be the baby."

Before Laura was aware of what was going on, Erika and Mia had managed to drag her into the kitchen and were covering her with a blanket. Laura attempted to sit up, but Erika grabbed her shoulders and forced her back against the hardwood floor. "Bad baby," she scolded, putting her hands on her hips. "You're supposed to stay in bed."

Mia knelt beside her, holding a plastic baby bottle that she had no doubt dug up from the old crate of toys Michelle kept in the living room. "Drink this baby." She said, attempting to force the bottle into Laura's mouth.

Not too keen on the idea, Laura kept her mouth shut firmly, attempting to wrench away from Erika, who was still pinning her to the ground. Mia glared at her. "You're not a very good baby." She pouted. "You've got to eat."

Laura shook her head, still keeping her mouth shut, her eyes gazing past her tormenters and back into the living room. Sam was still on the couch, though he had abandoned the pillow in an attempt to leave the living room and rescue the brunette from the new form of torture. The boys, however, didn't seem to think that was a very good idea.

Mia looked at Erika. "She's not playing right." She cried. "Babies are supposed to drink from a bottle."

Erika looked at Laura for a moment, before taking her hands off her shoulders. In one fluid motion, she clapped her hands firmly over Laura's nose and eyes, allowing very little oxygen to slip through her fingers. Laura, taken by surprise by the child's actions, opened her mouth, partly to shout at the kids and partly to breath. She should have known that was exactly what Erika had been hoping for.

"Now," Erika told Mia, "give her the bottle now." Mia did just that, roughly shoving the plastic bottle into Laura's mouth.

Laura coughed and yanked the bottle from her mouth before Mia could decide that she was going to force-feed her reluctant 'baby.' "You can't do that!" Erika cried almost instantly, taking her hands off Laura's face and snatching the bottle from her hands. "Bad baby." She promptly hit Laura in the forehead with the bottle.

Already planning all the punishments she was going to give the children, Laura sat up but before she could do anything more, Erika was on her again, this time with a hair-tie she had pulled from her pocket. Erika slipped the hair-tie around Laura's wrists, binding them tightly together and shoved her back onto the floor. "Let's try this again." She suggested and sat on Laura's stomach. "Drink this." She forced the bottle into Laura's lips again.

This was getting too much. Laura turned her head and spat the bottle onto the floor. "Sam!" She shouted, attempting to wrestle her way out from beneath Erika. "Help me." Any further pleas were cut off again by the bottle, which Erika now held in place.

Sam managed to wrestle away from the boys that were clinging to his waist and whacking him with the candlesticks and hurried into the kitchen. He found Laura on the floor with her hands tied, a baby bottle in her mouth, and two children pinning her to the floor. Mia had her hands covering Laura's eyes, shouting something about nap-tap, and Erika was still forcing the bottle into the brunette's mouth.

"Okay, that's enough." Sam said, yanking Erika off Laura's stomach and setting her aside. "It's time to calm down and watch some television before bed." He pulled Mia away from Laura, who looked up at him gratefully.

Sam, however, had said the wrong thing because the mention of a certain three-letter word sent the children into another frenzy. "Bed!" Frankie shouted, throwing his candlestick aside. "I don't want to go to bed!"

The other children shouted their agreement and the twins hurried off into the living room to retrieve some other item for their fiendish plans. Sam knelt down beside Laura, who smiled slightly at him through her disheveled curls, and was about to help her into a sitting position with Frankie tackled him from behind. "Agent Cody Banks!" The child yelled triumphantly as he and Sam crashed to the ground.

Laura let out a sharp cry of pain as Sam fell on top of her, his elbow digging into her stomach before he hit the hard wood floor. Sam felt like he could have died right that moment, knowing that he had hurt Laura; whether it was his fault or not didn't matter, he still hated himself. He tried to untangle himself from the shouting Frankie in order to see if she was all right but the child wouldn't let him, sitting on his back and forcing him to remain pressed against the kitchen floor. Sam could see Laura out of the corner of his eye, curled into a loose ball with her brow knitted in an expression of the pain she had suffered from receiving Sam's full weight on her stomach. Once again, he wished he could die just so he didn't have to see her like that.

Within seconds, Jack and Jake had rushed into the kitchen again and shoved Frankie off Sam's back, rolling the teenager onto his stomach. Before Sam could react, they had managed to tie his hands with a jump rope, using secure knots that he remembered learned in Boy Scouts. "All right!" Jake cried victoriously, giving his brother a high-five. "Time to play doctor."

"Doctor!" Erika agreed happily. "I'm going to be one of the doctors." She grabbed Laura by the ankles and pulled her out of the fetal position, kneeling beside the girl. "What seems to be the problem?" She questioned in a doctorly voice.

"She needs an operation!" Jack shouted, picking up one of the candlesticks and holding it like a scalpel as he got down beside Erika. "Or she'll die." He promptly whacked Laura in the hip with the butt of the candleholder.

Frankie, who had recovered from his tumble, joined Jake by Sam, studying the 'patient', who was too busy watching Laura, who was lying on the floor, momentarily out of the energy to fight back. He pressed his face against Sam's chest and nodded thoughtfully. "He's having a heart attack."

Jake looked appropriately worried and turned toward Stevie. "Doctor Stevie," he began, "this man needs medicine. Stat!" It was one of the words he had picked up from pretending not to watch those medical shows with his father in the living room.

Stevie gave a mock-salute and hurried off toward the refrigerator. He returned seconds later with a bushel of grapes in his hands, which he promptly handed to Jake. "Here's the medicine doctor." He said, picking off a few grapes for himself.

"Good." Jake nodded and grabbed a handful of grapes, which he forced past Sam's lips and into his mouth. Sam figured it was better then having a plastic bottle shoved into your mouth but not by much.

Once the grapes had run out, the 'doctors' lost interest, allowing Sam to turn his head and look at Laura, who was being operating on by a candlestick. She was looking up at the ceiling quite mournfully and Sam wished that there was something, anything, he could do to help her.

Erika suddenly bolted up right, looking at the children around her. "I'm bored." She declared and the other children nodded their agreement.

"Let's play tag!" Stevie suggested and whacked Mia across the shoulder. "You're it!" He declared before he took off running down the hallway, toward the bedrooms.

"Not fair!" Mia shouted before she took off running after him. The other children followed her, shrieking as they ran down the hallway.

Though he was certain no good could come from the children on the loose in the apartment, Sam was grateful that there was finally a moment of peace. He looked over at Laura, who was still staring at the ceiling, seeming to be basking in the silence. Sam managed to inch his way across the floor in her direction, sitting up.

"Are you all right?" Sam questioned, concerned, his brow knitting. He wanted to ask if he had hurt her but, while he knew Laura would act as though she was fine, he would know the truth and it was all ready bad enough.

Laura looked over at him, her doe-eyes wide. "What just happened?" She questioned, looking quite dazed. "Where did those demons go?"

Sam sighed. "Toward the bedrooms." He told her, managing to untie his hands enough to help Laura into a sitting position. "We'd better go after them."

Laura sighed wearily and leaned against Sam's shoulder, closing her eyes and allowing her tangled curls to fall across her face. "Can't we just let them destroy the apartment and we just wait here?" She mumbled, her shoulders sagging.

Sam tossed aside the rest of the jump rope and untied Laura's wrists as well. He lifted her face and brushed her hair away from her cheeks, smiling slightly at her. "Whatever you want." He whispered and moved in to kiss her.

Before their lips could meet, however, Tessa came running into the kitchen and nearly slipped on the slick surface, but managed to catch herself before she bowled into Sam and Laura. "Laura!" She cried, causing her sister and Sam to pull away. "Those kids are tearing up Mom's room!" She gestured wildly behind her. "You'd better stop them or you're going to be in so much trouble." She looked nervous, so much so that Sam wondered if Laura wouldn't be the only one in trouble.

Laura looked at Sam with absolute misery in her eyes. "Duty calls." She mumbled, getting slowly to her feet. Sam stood as well and took her hand, kissing her knuckles before dropping her hand again. Laura wished that these stupid kids weren't around, wished that she was alone with Sam so that she could really tell him how she felt about him, how she had always felt about him.

But until the demon children went back with their respective parents, it seemed that they weren't going to get a moment of peace. And so, slowly, Sam and Laura followed Tessa down the hallway toward whatever disaster awaited them.


	7. Hide and Seek

Chapter Seven

Hide And Seek

Sam knew that the sight that was going to greet his eyes upon walking into the master bedroom of the Chapman apartment was going to be a bad one. He could tell this by the sounds of glass shattering and amused screaming coming from the room; on top of those sounds, there was also the sound of heavy things being hurled across the room and pillows slamming into bodies. He almost wanted to turn and head out the door and act like he had never been in the apartment in the first place and, therefore, could not have stopped the madness that was taking place. But Sam knew that he could never do this because his lovely Laura, the girl of his dreams and the girl that might actually have feelings toward him in return, needed his help if she ever wanted to face these monsters. And he wasn't going to let her down.

Tessa was standing in the middle of her mother's room watching the scene unfold before her with wide eyes. Laura found it hard to believe that such little creatures, whether they be evil or not, could cause such damage in such a short amount of time. She almost believed that if she closed her eyes and opened them again, her mother's bedroom was going to be exactly the way Michelle had left it and that the children she was supposed to be keeping out of trouble were back in the living room, watching _Finding Nemo _like normal children.

But Laura knew that would never happen and she was forced to let her eyes scan what had once been a bedroom. The bed had been stripped of its covers, the blankets having gone to create a cape for Stevie, who was running around the room waving one of Michelle's pumps like a scepter. The twins were braining each other with pillows, whacking one another like they were worst enemies; Laura wouldn't have been surprised to see the stuffing from the pillows go flying around the room.

Erika and Mia were in going through the assortment of makeup and perfume bottles on Michelle's vanity, drawing upon each other with lipstick and assisting one another with applying various make up. Frankie was running around them, claiming again how he was Agent Cody Banks and that he needed a girlfriend because Agent Cody Banks _always _had a girlfriend in the movies. Erika, apparently, didn't feel the same way for she aimed one of the perfume bottles directly at the child and sprayed him in the face.

Every so often, one of the twins would hit something off a night table, or even manage to swipe picture frames off the dresser and the items would go crashing to the floor. Every time this happened, the twin who had done the deed would start howling with laughter, prompting his brother to do the same thing. This had left most of the breakable objects in Michelle's room broken, something that Laura knew would not make her mother happy.

"You'd better do something, Laura." Tessa advised, turning toward her older sister. "Mom is going to kill you."

Laura sighed; she didn't think her sister's words weren't that far off. By the end of the night, she was surely going to be dead, if not by her mother's hand then by the children in her care. She buried her face in her hands, unable to even comprehend how to start about getting the children out of her mother's room. And if they left, what good would that do? Everything was still broken, the room was still in shambles and there was nothing she could do about that.

Jake took his pillow and hit his brother square in the face, knocking the boy off the bed, where they had been jumping. Jack tumbled to the floor and quickly got to his feet, grabbing his brother by the ankles and yanking him onto the floor as well. They then proceeded to wrestle and claw at one another like wild animals, which Sam didn't think was very far off from what they were. Stevie abandoned his kingly cape and jumped onto the boys, who didn't even seem to notice as they kept rolling across the floor.

Sam looked over at Laura, who looked like she was seconds away from a nervous breakdown, and then turned back to the children. "Guys, settle down!" He clapped his hands together, and managed to get the attention of the girls. But it was the boys that had him worn out. "If you don't calm down right now, you're going to be in big trouble!" He highly doubted that. Sam had the feeling that if the boys set their minds to it, he would be black and blue in the morning.

Jake kicked his brother away from him and stood up, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Sam. "Oh yeah?" He questioned with a changeling tone. "You can't do anything."

Stevie and Jack also untangled themselves and looked at Sam with the same glare on their faces. "Yeah, what are you going to do?" Stevie snapped. "Nothing, that's what."

Sam sighed. "Well, I happen to have," he dug into his pockets, not quite sure what he happened to have in them. Maybe some candy, some money, the keys to his mother's car, anything to bribe these kids into being good. What he pulled out was his cell phone, something that the children surely would care very little about. "I have this phone." Sam said, holding it up for them to see and thinking quickly. "And it has Santa's cell phone number in it." Laura looked over at him. "And if you don't behave right now, then I'm going to call him up and tell you that you guys all want socks for Christmas."

For a moment, the room was filled with silence and Sam found that everyone was looking at him, including Laura. Laura looked a little confused, if not amused, by his claims but even more happy that his words were actually working. Erika looked at Sam from beneath a mask of mascara, blush, eye shadow and lipstick and batted her eyes. "I want socks." She told him.

"Of course you do." Sam mumbled, hoping that the other children in the room weren't as excited about outerwear as Erika. Luckily, getting socks for Christmas was about as appealing to the boys as nap time.

Jack looked at his brother and pushed him. "You're stupid for fighting!" He cried as he pushed Jake again. "You started to fight me and now we're going to get socks for Christmas!"

Jack pushed his brother back. "You're stupid, not me!" He snapped, hitting at the other boy. "You started it! I'm telling Santa to give you _all _the socks in the world!"

Horrified by the idea of getting socks for Christmas, Jake tackled his brother and began to slap at him as only a five-year-old boy could do. Jack started screaming, more for the purpose of making noise, and began thrashing on the floor, trying to get away from his brother. Stevie started yelling as well, waving his shoe in the air and slapping at the boys with the comforter off Michelle's bed.

Laura sighed; she should have known that the moment of pleasant, perfect silence would have only lasted a few seconds. Wearily, she hurried over to where the twins were fighting and tossed the comforter off them. This didn't please Stevie, who looked at her with a hate-filled glare on his face. Laura didn't notice as she grabbed Jake off his brother and hauled him to his feet.

Where Laura had thought that her intervention would be appreciated by at least one of the boys, she was wrong. Jack got to his feet and glared at her. "You let my brother go!" He demanded. "Don't touch my brother!" He threw himself at Laura's legs, knocking her off balance but she managed to right herself before she fell to the ground. Laura couldn't count the times she had been knocked onto the ground in the past several hours and was thankful that she wasn't on the carpet yet again.

However, Jake didn't think that she should remain that way. He twisted out of Laura's grasp and threw his arms around her waist, throwing his weight into the action and knocking the teenager to the floor. Stevie threw the comforter onto her and jumped on top of the hidden girl, prompting Jack and Jake to do the same thing.

Before Sam could come to Laura's aid, it was Frankie to the rescue. When Laura had entered the room, the very confused kid had decided that if ever there had been a girlfriend for Agent Cody Banks, she was it. And so, he just needed to find his moment to prove to Laura that he was the best pre-teen superhero for her, just like Cody Banks always did in the movies. And besides, Laura was much cuter that then stupid Hilary Duff any day.

And so, when Frankie saw his future Ms. Agent Cody Banks attacked by the twins and covered with Stevie's comforter, he knew he had found his moment. Grabbing one of the discarded pillows, he launched himself at the three boys and whacked Stevie in the face, pushing him aside. "I am Agent Cody Banks!" Frankie declared as he hit Jake. "And I will protect my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Laura mumbled from beneath the blanket, which she could now free herself from. That didn't seem very promising.

Frankie succeeded in protecting his very reluctant 'girlfriend' from the enemies at the moment and smiled at Laura. "And now you are my girlfriend." He informed her. "Because Agent Cody Banks always has a girlfriend."

Laura offered Frankie a unsteady smile as she got to her feet. "That's really sweet." She told the child. "But I don't think I can be your girlfriend."

Frankie looked at her, confused. "Why not?" He questioned. "Agent Cody Banks _always _has a girlfriend!" He cried, stomping his foot. "And you're _my _girlfriend." He threw his arms around her waist and attempted to plant a kiss square on her lips. Thankfully, for Laura, he was much too short to accomplish this task.

Laura made a face and looked at Sam, who appeared just as mystified as the brunette. Tessa, whoever, burst into laughter, as though the scene before her was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her entire life. "You should be thankful, Laura." She said when she managed to compose herself. "You've finally found a boy that actually wants to kiss you."

With her cheeks suddenly bright red, Laura looked away from her sister and Sam, utterly mortified. Though she knew that Tessa's words were no longer true because, after all, she had Sam who seemed pretty willing to kiss her, but she still couldn't help but be embarrassed. That was the last night she needed Sam to know about her: that she was largely undesirable to men. Laura managed to untangle herself from Frankie and hold the child a safe distance away from her. "Okay, well, that might have to wait a few years." She mumbled in response to Frankie's claims that she was now his girlfriend.

"Good idea." Sam chimed in from the front of the room. "And you know what else is a good idea? Going back to the living room and watching a movie." The kids didn't look to interested. "Or playing a game."

"A game!" Erika cried happily, leaping off the chair in front of the vanity and tossing aside her eye-liner. "Let's play!" She went running off in the direction of the living room. Mia followed after her, yelling about a game, just because the older girl was doing the same thing.

Since there was nothing better to do, the twins and Stevie followed after the girls, figuring that a game wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. Frankie looked expectantly at Laura. Laura looked right back, trying to figure just how to turn Frankie's attention to someone his own age, or at least toward someone else. She smiled slightly when the perfect person crossed her mind. "Frankie, I can't be your girlfriend because I'm too old and Agent Cody Banks has to date someone his own age." Frankie looked at her, interested and confused. "But my sister is closer to your age and she'd be happy to be your girlfriend."

The smile at had been on Tessa's face instantly disappeared as she looked at her sister with wide eyes. "What?" She questioned, surprised. "I can't be his girlfriend."

Before Tessa could offer any more arguments, Frankie had run over to her and claimed her as his new girlfriend. After all, Agent Cody Banks had a new girl in the sequel, so it just made since to Frankie that he should too. "You're my girlfriend now." He told Tessa, grabbing her hand. "Let's go into the living room now." He tugged her in that direction.

Laura grinned at her sister and shrugged her shoulders innocently as the girl allowed herself to be dragged out of the room by Frankie. Satisfied, at least for the moment, Laura headed in that direction as well, the smile on Sam's face causing her to pause. "What?" She questioned, trying to figure out just why he was giving her that adorable smile. It was still impossible for her to fathom that anything she did could make Sam smile like that.

Sam shrugged. "I just don't think Tessa is going to be so willing to piss you off any more tonight." He pointed out, gesturing toward Tessa's room. The girl had managed to free herself from Frankie and slammed the door to her room in the boy's face. Frankie pounded on the door for a second or two before he lost interest, joining his new found friends in the living room.

Laura and Sam entered the living room as well before the children could do any more damange then they already had. Though, Sam figured that would be impossible, unless they managed to throw the sofa out the window. The kids, however, looked antsy enough to try anything and he figured now would be the best time to find something to calm them down.

"Isn't it about time for these kids to go to bed?" Sam questioned, whispering to Laura so that the demons masquerading as children wouldn't hear. "I'm running out of ideas here."

Laura sighed; she had been out of ideas the entire night. All she wanted to do was throw the kids back to their parents and get the chance to talk to Sam without being interrupted by the sound of screaming or breaking glass. Or both. But as of right now, that didn't seem like it was going to happen and that upset her a lot more then she would have thought. It was no secret, at least not to her, that she was head-over-heels for Sam and she had hoped that tonight would be the night that she managed to make her mouth work enough to form the words to tell them how she felt. But, Laura didn't see how she was going to tell him anything with the screaming children always around.

"I have no idea." She mumbled, looking back at the kids. "You'd think they'd tire out...sooner or later." Laura had a feeling that if the kids ever got tired, it was going to be later, much later.

Erika turned back toward the teenagers and fixed them with an impatient glare. "You said we were going to play a game." She reminded them, sounding both tired and impatient at the same time. "Let's play."

"Yeah." Stevie agreed. "Let's play!" The rest of the children took up the chant and Sam realized there was nothing that he and Laura could do but let those demonic children play a damn game.

"Fine." Sam mumbled, tensely. "What do you want to play?"

This brought silence; the children obviously hadn't put much thought into their request. As always, Erika was the first to answer, having made up her mind as quickly as possible on what she wanted to play. "Hide and seek." She said. "Let's play hide and seek."

Laura didn't think that letting the kids run around her house alone was a good idea but the children seemed to think otherwise. "Hide and seek!" Jake shouted triumphantly, giving his brother a high-five. "We're the champions at hide and seek!"

Erika looked at them. "But I'm going to find you." She told them frankly. "Because I'm 'it' and I'm the best seeker. So you better find a good place to hide." She looked at her sitters. "You guys too."

With that, Erika began counting and the children scampered off to various parts of the house before either Sam or Laura could raise an argument about it. Laura looked at Sam. "I think we should hide." She told him with a slightly seductive tone that made Sam wonder if he had imagined it. "This is our only chance to get away from them."

Sam couldn't agree more; besides, the prospect of being alone with Laura, even if it was for five minutes was so perfect that couldn't even begin to think about how he could disagree. Laura took his arm and pulled him down the hallway toward the only bedroom he hadn't been able to peek into, which he figured was her own. She opened the door and they stepped inside, with Laura quietly closing the door behind her.

Sam let his eyes roam the room in front of him, allowing himself to see a little more of the girl he had fallen in love with. Aside from her bed, which was a mass of tangled covers and pillows, Laura's room was immaculate, kept in perfect order with everything in its place. Text books and binders were stacked on her desk, her backpack resting in the chair beside it; her dresser was perfectly organized with a collection of framed photographs.

Getting closer to the dresser, Sam started looking at the different pictures, images that told about the parts of Laura's life that he hadn't been involved in. There were pictures of Laura and her sister, of her sister and her mother, of a younger Laura with a large black cat hanging from her arms. Sam smiled slightly at a picture of Laura in a party-hat with chocolate frosting on her nose; she looked so adorable, so happy that Sam felt like he was falling in love with her all over again.

Laura, however, obviously didn't feel the same way about the picture and snatched the frame away before Sam could get a better look. She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile, tossing the picture onto her bed. "I look like an idiot." She mumbled, an explanation for her abrupt seizure of the photo.

Sam shook his head. "No, you looked cute." He told her truthfully. "You always do." He couldn't believe that he had actually managed to tell Laura that he thought she was cute, though how he felt about her went a little deeper then that. But, at least it was a start. Then again, he figured kissing her was a pretty good start too.

Laura blushed slightly, her heart beginning to pound in her chest, but she didn't look away from Sam. She wanted him then more then she had ever wanted anyone in her life and suddenly, she wasn't afraid to tell him. Laura moved closer to kiss him but the sound of feet coming from down the hallway was enough to make her stop; it was undoubtedly Erika, on her search for the group of hiders. Laura couldn't bare the thought of being discovered so early in the game and having her hard-earned time with Sam interrupted.

And so, Laura grabbed Sam's arm and dropped to the ground, pulling Sam down with her and hiding behind her bed. It wasn't the greatest hiding spot, but if Erika peeked in then they wouldn't be discovered. Seconds after they had ducked behind the bed, the door swung open and Erika stuck her head inside. "Hello? Anyone in here?" She questioned, to which she got no answer. Erika quickly closed the door again and hurried off to find a room where someone was hiding.

Sam looked back at Laura once the door had shut again, realizing how close they were to each other. Being near her always made his heart flutter and now it was beating overtime. Laura smiled faintly, that adorable, embarrassed smile that he loved so much. She seemed more relaxed now, more like the Laura he knew at school, without the added stress of dealing with the monstrous children and her bitchy little sister. Sam wondered for a moment if Laura was always this stressed out upon coming home and realized that he knew very little about her private life. He also realized that he wanted to spend his entire life finding out every little detail about her.

But before Sam could even think of a question to ask that wasn't openly prying, Laura spoke. "Thanks for coming to baby-sit with me, Sam." She told him, her chocolate eyes locking with his blue ones. "I don't think I could manage without you."

Sam smiled and shook his head as though it had been nothing. "Is babysitting always this hazardous?" He questioned, raising his eyebrow.

Laura rolled her eyes. "It's usually not this painful." She told him, her hands reflexively going to her stomach where she was still sore from having Sam fall on her earlier. Her head was pounding and she was certain she had a bruise on every inch of her body; she was going to hurt in the morning.

Sam winced at her gesture, even though he knew Laura hadn't spoken to make him feel badly about what he had done. Even though it was an accident, he still couldn't believe that he had hurt Laura and wished he could take that moment back. "I'm really sorry." Sam told her, his fingers lightly brushing against her stomach. Laura figured Sam would misread her sudden in-take of breath as a sign of pain, when really she was surprised by his touch; she loved the tenderness in his gesture, the gentleness in his fingers and she dreaded the thought of him pulling his hand away. "Are you all right?" Sam questioned with a look of concern in his face, shining in his beautiful eyes.

Laura swallowed and managed to nod, her heart pounding in her chest. "I'm fine." She assured him. "I'm just-" She didn't know what she was and so she leaned forward, kissing Sam before she had to think of a way to finish her sentence.

Sam was only momentarily surprised by her actions before he allowed himself to forget about everything but the fact that Laura was kissing him. He ran his fingers through her hair, vaguely aware that she was now backed against her bed, perhaps uncomfortably but she didn't seem to mind.

Laura couldn't seem to make herself think about anything other them Sam and how it felt to have him kissing her, running his fingers through her curls. She let her fingers trail down his cheeks and down his shoulders, pulling Sam closer to her. Sam's fingers left her hair and traveled down her face; he unconsciously tickled the nape of her neck, causing Laura to smile and almost break the kiss. Sam didn't seem to notice, however, as his fingers continued to wander down her back, sending pleasant chills running up her spine. Being with Sam was so wonderful, so perfect and Laura wondered if she had ever been that complete before, that happy? It was doubtful.

When the kiss was finally broken, Laura smiled at Sam, her cheeks rosy, her breath coming quickly. Sam smiled back and brushed some of her hair away from her face. "You are so beautiful." He whispered, trailing his fingers down her cheek. He couldn't believe how long he had waited to tell Laura that, to tell her any number of things, and he was almost surprised by how easily the words slipped from his lips now.

Laura rolled her eyes, knowing that she surely didn't look that beautiful. However, hearing Sam say it almost made her believe it and she liked the way that felt, liked the knowledge of knowing that, at least to someone, she _was _beautiful.

As Laura leaned forward to kiss Sam once again, the sound of something being hurled into the kitchen wall floated down the hallway. Laura winced, mentally cursing the little terrors that dared to call themselves children. How could they have already gotten into trouble, weren't they supposed to be hiding? How did they managed to ruin the most perfect moment of her entire life in just a matter of seconds.

Sam smiled faintly at Laura, trailing his fingers across her cheek. "We shouldn't go, we should just stay here." He kissed her on the cheek and Laura wished more then anything that she could stay with Sam for the rest of her life, being held and kissed by him and just feeling safe.

Laura kissed him lightly on the lips, pulling alway reluctantly before he could deepen the kiss. "We can't, my mom is all ready going to kill me for the state of the house. I don't want to make it worse." She told him, feeling like an idiot for denying the chance to be with the one person she was falling in love with because she feared her mother's wrath. Not that it was a completely baseless fear, however, but she still felt like an idiot.

Sam frowned slightly but managed to pull Laura back for a quick kiss anyway. Once they had parted again, he got to his feet and helped her up as well. "God only knows what those kids have gotten into now." He mumbled.

Laura sighed wearily, wondering just how the children could be so full of energy when she was about to fall asleep where she stood. And she had no doubt that the children would keep going long after she could and that thought wasn't very pleasing. She was afraid to think about what the kids could get themselves into when she and Sam were too exhausted to even attempt to keep them in check.

However, Laura should have been more worried about what the kids had already gotten themselves into, as opposed to what lay in the future. At the moment, the children were tearing through her kitchen like the orange monkeys in _Jumanji_, opening cabinets and sliding across counters. The twins had the refrigerator open and were pulling out whatever they could get their hands on, throwing it to the other kids or just tossing it to the floor.

Bowls and other silverware was scattered across the counters and the floor, where Stevie and Frankie were playing hockey with bowls and plates. Laura was so surprised to find her kitchen in such a state of chaos that she could do nothing but stare at the children as they continued to wreak havoc, unaware that their sitters had entered the room. Sam was the same way, unable to do anything but watch as the kids caused yet more damage.

Mia took one of the plates and threw it across the room, where it shattered against the fireplace. Laura's mouth dropped open but she managed to snap herself out of her shock in time to keep the other children from following Mia's example and hurling more plates.

"Everyone stop!" Laura yelled, louder then she believed she had ever yelled in her entire life. Thankfully, all the children stopped in the middle of what they were doing to turn and look at her with wide, almost frightened eyes. "That's better. Now put down the plates." That was a bad idea, because Stevie dropped his plate and it shattered against the floor.

Sam sighed and took the plates from the other children, stacking them on the counter. He then knelt down and began picking up the shards of china before anyone could get a piece of glass in their foot; he figured that would be the perfect end to a perfect evening but he wasn't willing to chance it.

As Sam cleaned, Laura took stock of the room and the children, who were standing around, idle for the moment because there was nothing to do. She figured that they would find some new and creative way to ruin her life in about ten seconds but until then, the six children were going to have to-

Wait; Laura paused and let her eyes scan the kitchen once again, mentally counting the heads in the room. There were only five bored, dirty faces staring back at her. Five, not six. Laura had a feeling that this night was about to get a lot worse. She turned to look at Sam. "Sam," she began. "I think we have a problem."


	8. The Search

Chapter Eight

The Search

Sam hadn't thought that the night could get any worse but when he heard Laura's words, he knew he had been wrong. It could always get worse. "A problem?" He repeated, turning away from the mess he was attempting to clean. "What kind of problem?" Every part of him dreaded what Laura's answer was going to be.

Before Laura answered, she counted the children once again and then once more just to make sure that she hadn't missed anyone. There were only five children, one child was missing. "Erika's gone." She told Sam, looking at him with round eyes.

"Gone?" Sam blinked at her. "What do you mean gone?" He was already looking at the children, counting them just as Laura had done. One red-headed child was missing from the line-up, and he could feel a cold pit growing in his stomach. "She's probably still hiding from playing the game." He pointed out.

Laura visibly relaxed upon hearing his words; Sam was probably right, she was getting worked up over nothing. She was probably still in her hiding spot, refusing to take part in the destruction that the other children seemed to revel in. "You're probably right." She said.

Sam nodded again. "You go look for her and I'll finish cleaning up." He suggested and Laura nodded. He went back to picking up the remaining shards of glass from the shattered plates, leaving Laura to search for the missing Erika. The children turned their attention away from causing chaos and toward Laura, where they figured something more exciting was happening.

Laura headed back down the hallway, the gaggle of children following after her. For ten minutes, she poked through all the bedrooms in the apartment, including Tessa's, calling Erika's name with every step. The children decided to make themselves "useful" and helped Laura in her search, tearing through the mess they had already made in the master bedroom and coming close to destroying Laura's perfectly put together room.

By the time Laura and the children returned to the kitchen, Sam had finished cleaning up the mess and Erika had yet to be found. "She wasn't in any of the bedrooms, Sam." Laura told him, growing worried once more.

"She's got to be somewhere in the apartment." Sam said, attempting to relax Laura once again. "Where else could she be?" He thought it was too early to begin getting worried; after all, where else could Erika have gone? The apartment was small, they just weren't looking hard enough.

Laura shrugged her shoulders, defeated. "I have no idea." She mumbled, staring down at the floor and searching her mind for any hiding spots in her apartment. Her eyes grew wide and her head snapped back up and she looked at Sam with even more panic in her face. The only thing Erika had wanted to do the entire night was go home and suddenly it didn't seem very unlikely that she took matters into her own hands. "Erika lives a few blocks from here," Laura told Sam, "you don't think she'd-"

Sam shook his head before Laura could finish her suspicions. "I don't think she'd go home." At least, he hoped that she didn't. But suddenly it seemed like such a possibility that he felt a bit of panic enter his body; he'd never really babysat before but he figured that the parents wouldn't be too happy if their kid turned up missing.

Laura didn't seem at all reassured by Sam's words. "But she's not here, Sam." She repeated. "What if she did go home?"

Mia spoke up then, as though she had just now realized what her sitters were talking about. "Erika told me she wanted to go home." She told the eldest girl. "She missed her Mommy." Her face fell and her tears filled her eyes. "I miss my Mommy too!" She cried, pressing her cubby fists into her face.

Laura sighed wearily and absently patted Mia on the head, but she was thinking about what the young girl had said. She looked at Sam, who appeared to be thinking the same thing; it suddenly seemed very possible that Erika was no longer in the apartment, that she had ducked out of the house during hide-and-seek without either of her sitters noticing. Laura suddenly felt a pang of guilt as she realized that Erika could have easily left the house without getting noticed while she had been 'hiding' in her bedroom with Sam. The only thing on her mind had been Sam and his lips against hers, his hands on her shoulders, his fingers going through her curls...it was easy now to get lost thinking about him and Laura forced herself to think about the here in now. Which was even more difficult because with one look into Sam's beautiful blue eyes and she was gone again.

"Where's Erika?" Stevie questioned, pulling Laura out her reverie and getting her attention. "Did she go away?"

Laura shrugged helplessly and looked back at Sam. "What are we going to do?" She questioned, staring into his eyes and waiting for his answer. It was then that she realized how quickly she was falling in love with Sam Hall, how she already looked to him to provide the answers and strength that she had desired her entire life. But now wasn't the time to try and make sense of everything, to try and sort out her growing feelings. Now she had to think about finding Erika and getting her back to the apartment before her parents returned. And she had a feeling that was going to be a debacle of epic proportions.

Now it was Sam's turn to shrug helplessly. "What can we do?" He questioned. "Go looking for her?" As soon as he had spoken, however, he realized just what that feat would entail, seeing as they still had six other children to watch.

Laura looked away from Sam, trying to untangle her thoughts and figure out a reasonable way to handle the problem in front of her. It seemed impossible to even think about leaving the apartment and go looking for Erika. With the band of monsters that hadn't gone missing, they wouldn't get three feet from her apartment without causing some kind of catastrophe or spending the night in prison. If she and Sam couldn't handle the kids within four walls, then how could they even fool themselves into believing they could keep the kids in check on the streets.

But, if they didn't find Erika and her mother came home then she wasn't going to be seeing the streets for a long time. More then spending the night in jail with rabid children, the wrath of her mother and just what Michelle would do when she discovered that one of her friend's children had gone missing worried and frightened Laura. And it was that worry that made up her mind and caused her gaze to return to Sam. "I don't think we have another choice." She answered wearily.

Sam raised an eyebrow but didn't think he could argue with her; if they didn't find Erika, no one was going to be very happy when the parents returned from their night out. Besides, one look into those beautiful, doe-brown eyes and he would have done anything she had asked.

Frankie perked up, understanding better then the younger children the conversation that was passing between the teenagers. "Are we going out? On a trip?" He asked joyfully, causing the other kids to brighten as well. Even if it was just a trip to the post office, a trip was a trip and to children under the age of ten, it was an adventure.

"A trip!" One of the twins cried, jumping up and down and clapping his hands. "I love trips!"

"Me too!" Stevie added and began jumping as well, though he decided that running in circles suited him better. "Let's go to the zoo!"

Sam shook his head. "No, we're not going to the zoo." Before he could say anything more or even think about something to say, the children began shouting.

"But _I _want to go to the zoo!" Jake cried and began stomping his feet. "I want to see the cows!"

Laura was baffled. "They don't have cows at the zoo." She pointed out, trying to figure out where the child was coming from.

Now Jake looked confused. "Yes they do. My daddy takes us to the zoo all the time and there are plenty of cows." At least, his father had claimed that the cow pasture along the highway was 'the world's cheapest zoo.'

Sam waved his hand dismissively. "That's not the point." He said before anything else could be said about the animals in the zoo. "We're not going to the zoo, we're going to look for Erika."

Regardless of their destination, the children erupted into a chorus of happy yells at the thought of getting out of the house and going to a larger area where there was much more for them to destroy. They began running around the kitchen and into the living room, leaping over the couch and shouting about the impending 'trip.'

Sam watched the destruction in disbelief. "Why do I have a feeling this isn't the best idea in the world?" He questioned, looking over at Laura.

"If you have a better idea, I'm all for it." Laura mumbled, not meeting Sam's gaze. She was thinking now only of Erika and how the girl had better be found. Otherwise the last kiss she would ever give Sam would be a goodbye kiss; her mother would make sure of that.

Sam offered her a slight smile and slipped his arms around Laura's waist, his heart skipping a beat; was it even possible that he was already in love with this girl? One thing was for certain: he loved the way he felt when he was with her, loved holding her and just being near her. Ever since he had first seen Laura in calculus class, he had dreamed of being with her and it still seemed impossible that she felt the same way about him. "Don't worry," Sam said gently, brushing a lock of hair away from Laura's face. "We're going to find her."

Laura looked up, staring once again into Sam's crystal blue eyes. "I hope you're right." She mumbled. She wished she could lay her head against Sam's chest and let him hold her forever, for at least then she would be safe.

"We'll find her." Sam repeated and kissed Laura lightly. "After all, how far could she have gotten?"

* * *

"This is so typical." Tessa mumbled as she pulled on her tennis shoes. "I knew something like this was bound to happen. But did anyone listen to me? Of course not, because no one ever listens to me."

Laura glared at her little sister. "But that doesn't stop you from talking." She remarked. Tessa looked up, too stunned by her sister's retort to come up with one of her own. "Hurry up, Tessa."

Lacing up her shoes, Tessa said, "I don't understand why I have to come with you anyway. I'm fully capable of taking care of myself."

Laura laughed, a sarcastic laugh that wasn't at all forced and once again caught her little sister off guard. This wasn't the Laura that took her snide remarks with silence and the slamming of a door; this Laura was full of her own snide remarks and retaliations. Tessa wasn't so sure she liked this Laura.

A moment passed and Tessa finished tying her tennis shoes. She got to her feet and looked at her older sister once more. "So, where exactly were you when Erika left?" She questioned, deciding now was as good a time for payback as any. "With Sam?" She raised an eyebrow.

Laura felt her cheeks color and Tessa knew she had hit the nerve and found Laura's weak point. The older brunette didn't answer, which only prompted Tessa to speak again. "Were you two...studying?" She questioned. She grinned, victorious, when Laura's face grew even redder. "I can't wait to tell Mom how Erika was able to run away." Tessa's grin grew wider. "'Well, you see Mom,'" She mimicked, "'Laura would have been watching Erika but she was too busying making out in her bedroom with Sam to-'"

"Just shut up." Laura snapped, giving her sister a push toward the front door. "Don't say another word."

Sam was standing outside, waiting for the Chapman sisters to emerge from the house and watching the gaggle of children run around the sidewalk like demons. Jake and Jack were pushing each other into bushes and Stevie was throwing rocks at Frankie. Mia was the only sane child, sitting cross-legged on the concrete and piling rocks into a meaningless formation. He sighed and shook his head; he could already tell that there was no way they were going to find Erika and make it back to the apartment in one piece. At least, not before the parents returned to collect their little devils.

Laura and a sulking Tessa exited the house and Laura shut and locked the door behind her. She took one look at the children and frowned, sighing deeply. "How are we going to keep these kids under control?" She questioned, looking at Sam even though she didn't really expect an answer.

"I have no idea." Sam mumbled, watching as Stevie hit Frankie square in the forehead with a rock and then began running in the other direction as the other child came hurrying after him. "How far away does Erika live?"

"Three blocks." Laura answered, suddenly feeling as though three blocks was a hundred, especially with the children. How were they supposed to keep the kids under control, to make sure that they didn't destroy people's lawns and go running into the street? At that moment, Laura decided that she was never going to baby-sit again.

Sam sighed. "Three blocks." He repeated, suddenly exhausted. "Then I guess we'd better get going."

Together, Sam and Laura managed to round up the kids and explain to them that there would be no running and that they were going to walk calmly down the sidewalk in a single-file line and help look for Erika. As soon as this speech was given, Stevie went running down the sidewalk, prompting the other children to do the same. "I bet Erika went to the zoo!" Shouted Jake as he went running down the sidewalk, careful not to step on any cracks. "That's where I would go."

Sam grabbed Jake's shoulder before the child ran into an intersection and pulled him back onto the sidewalk. "I don't think Erika went to the zoo." He said, somewhat breathless. "Did she say anything about going home?" Jake nodded.

From somewhere behind Sam and the twin, Laura was attempting to pull Stevie off a plastic trashcan, trying to get the squirming child under some sort of control. Stevie thrashed in her grip, shouting something about how he needed to use the lid of the trashcan as a shield to fight an imaginary army. Laura set the child on the sidewalk and grabbed his shirt collar to keep him from running off again.

Tessa laughed, rolling her eyes at her sister's attempts to gain control over one member of the unruly brood. "If I had been watching these kids," she informed Laura, "none of them would have run off. They'd all be in bed by now." She paused. "But then again, I don't have someone to study with so-"

"Shut up Tessa." Laura snapped just as Stevie broke free from her grip. "I don't have time to deal with you right now." She hurried after Stevie, who was now looking for something to throw at Mia, who was wearily walking down the sidewalk.

Laura grabbed Stevie's hand and held his wrist tightly, letting him know that there was no way he was going to get away this time. She also took the other twin's hand, once again trying to keep the kids under control. The children remained in her grasp, as well as Sam's, long enough for them to cross the street and head toward a row of super markets and boutiques.

Once they had left the intersection behind, Stevie tore free from Laura once again and made a bee-line for the closest store, which happened to be a twenty-four hour super market. Laura watched in disbelief as the child ran through the automatic doors and disappeared down the cereal aisle. "This is just great." She mumbled to Sam, burying her head in her hands. "We're never going to find Erika."

The other children ran into the store after Stevie, aside from Mia, who yawned and began insisting that Tessa carry her. Sam kissed Laura on the forehead, causing the brunette to look up. "We've just got to get control of these kids and then we'll find Erika." He assured her. "We'll find her."

Laura looked into the store, where one of the twins had climbed onto a checkout belt and was throwing magazines off the rack. "How are we supposed to get control over those things?"

"I'd start by going into the store." Tessa pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow. "Before the manager calls the cops."

With no other choice, Sam and Laura, as well as the two younger girls, entered the super market, where they spotted only two of the children. Stevie and Jake had disappeared, leaving the store manager and several employees attempting to talk to Frankie and Jack and get them under control.

Upon seeing Laura and Sam, Frankie tossed aside the box of doughnuts he had been helping himself to and tore off down the dog food aisle. Jack leapt off the conveyer belt but Sam caught him before he could hit the ground and start running.

"Are these your children?" The manager asked Laura before she could go to Sam's aid and help him with the thrashing Jack. He looked angrier then any person Laura had ever seen in her entire life and she involuntarily took a step back.

"Uh...yes." Laura answered slowly. "I'm babysitting them." She looked back at Sam, who was attempting to wrestle Jack to the ground but not getting very far seeing as Jack was hitting him the head with an issue of _Teen People_.

The manager glared at her. "Well you're not going a very good job." He informed her. "Those children are tearing apart my store."

Laura sighed. "I'm so sorry, sir." She apologized. "Just let me get them and we'll be out of your store."

The manager crossed his arms over his chest. "You have ten minutes." He told her. "And then I'm calling the police and filing charges for vandalism." He paused. "And I hope you intend on paying for that magazine." The magazine he was referring to was now in tatters on the ground, though Jack was still using the crooked spine to beat Sam with.

"Yes sir." Laura mumbled and hurried to where Sam was attempting to fend off the children. She snatched the magazine from Jack and tossed it on the conveyer belt, grabbing the child before he could take off running. "We've got to get these kids, or that guy is going to call the police."

Sam sighed and got to his feet; he had expected that the night wasn't going to play out the way it did in his mind but he never would have guessed that he would be in a Shop Rite trying to get control of four kids so he didn't have to spend the night in prison.

While Laura held Jack's arms behind his back, keeping the child from grabbing anything else he might have been able to use to fight off his babysitters, Sam grabbed a shopping cart and lifted the child into the seat designed for toddlers. Before Jack could leap away again, Sam buckled the child in and tightened the belt as far as it would go. Jack squirmed by the belt held fast.

"Okay," Sam sighed, "we've just got to find the others." Easier said then done.

Jack started kicking his legs and clawing at the fabric of the belt. "Let me out!" He shouted as Laura pulled the cart down one of the aisles. "Let me out or I'm telling my mom!"

Laura and Sam ignored the child as they headed down the dog food aisle where they had last seen Frankie. The aisle was empty and so they went to the neighboring aisle, where they found Jake scaling the shelves, heading for a box of prepackaged cupcakes. Laura plucked the child off the shelf, managing to do so without pulling the shelf over, and deposited him in the cart as well. Sam regretted that there was only one seat belt, but, unless they wanted to be pulling along four carts then he figured that the larger part of the cart was just going to have to work.

As they reached the frozen food aisle, Laura had to dodge a fast-rolling cart, which had come flying down from one of the adjacent aisles. The cart tumbled over the middle section and landing with its wheels spinning in the air. Both Sam and Laura turned in the direction the cart had come from to see Stevie and Frankie making a quick getaway down the ice cream aisle. Laura went hurrying after them, stumbling over a open, discarded ice cream carton and taking Stevie down with her as she hit the tiled aisle.

Stevie cried out in protest, trying to wiggle out from beneath Laura but the brunette grabbed his ankle and kept him in place. Laura lifted her head and saw Frankie still making a ran for it down the magazine aisle. "Frankie!" She cried. "Stop!" The child ignored her.

Tessa managed to grab hold of the back of Frankie's shirt before the kid could get much farther, holding him in place and grinning triumphantly at her sister. "You should have just let me watch the kids." She pointed out.

Not even bothering to come up with a reply for her sister's words, Laura got to her feet and drug Stevie toward the wire cart Sam was pushing along. "Are you all right?" Sam questioned response to Laura's fall in the ice cream aisle and the brunette nodded. She lifted the shouting Stevie into the shopping cart, holding him down when he tried to jump out again.

At the front of the store, they met up with Tessa, who was still holding onto Frankie, despite his attempts to get away. "I expect to be paid for this." She informed her sister.

Laura waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever." She mumbled, too exhausted to really even care what her sister had to say anymore. She just wanted to go back home, curl up on the couch beside Sam and forget that there had ever been in a thing in the world called a child.

But first, she would have to get the unruly and unhappy children home and Laura knew that was much easier said then done.

So, I know it's been a while since I've updated but I'm trying to get better at that, I really am. Regardless, I've now finished this story, so the number of reviews I get for this chapter will determine how quickly I post the next one. There's only a few chapters left, so keep those reviews coming. In reference to the reviews I have gotten: Lucie, I'm glad that the events of our babysitting night turned out much differently then Sam and Laura's. That would have been interesting... To Kelly: I think you might have a good idea; I might have to try that next time I baby-sit. And to The Jess: What happened to those reviews? I'm not feeling the love anymore. Keep up those great reviews! I love all of them! 


	9. The Upsides and Downsides of Babysitting

Chapter Nine

The Upsides and Downsides of Babysitting

It was clear to Sam and Laura that, after narrowing escaping the wrath of a very angry store manager, they were going to get no where when it came to looking for Erika. Splitting up was out of the question, since one of them alone wouldn't be able to handle the children. And so, with no other choice in sight, they headed back toward the apartment with six children in tow. Tessa didn't waste any time harassing her sister for her decision, walking along side the eldest Chapman daughter with a smug smile on her face.

"I can't believe you're just going to give up, to not even look for her." Tessa remarked as she kept step with Laura. "What are you going to tell her mother?"

Laura didn't answer, her shoulders slumping; she didn't have an answer to that question anyway. She had no idea what she was going to tell Erika's mother, what excuse she was going to give for allowing her daughter to turn up missing. Sam offered her a faint, supportive smile and took her hand, entwining their fingers and offering the brunette the only support he could.

As they headed back to the apartment, it became clear to Sam that the children were losing their energy. It was almost too good to be true, he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. The twins were yawning and rubbing their eyes and Stevie was dragging his feet like they were made of led. It seemed impossible that the little monsters were growing too tired to cause trouble but Sam wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth. If they could get the children back to the apartment without any more disasters, then at least one miracle had happened.

With a heavy heart, still dreading the confrontation that was surely on the horizon, Laura unlocked the door to the apartment and ushered the children inside. With a final burst of energy, Stevie went running into the living room and jumped onto the couch. He quickly decided, however, that jumping on the cushions weren't nearly as fun as laying on them and he flopped down, covering his face with a pillow.

"I don't believe it." Sam mumbled. "Now they get tired."

Laura sighed. "They must have worn themselves out looking for Erika." She pointed out, looking pretty worn out herself. Sam wished that he could take Laura into his arms and keep her safe from all the worries that were plaguing her mind.

Mia grabbed Sam's hand and tugged, catching his attention and reluctantly taking his gaze away from Laura. "I'm thirsty." She informed him, sticking out her bottle lip. "I want juice."

With a weary sigh of his own, Sam headed toward the refrigerator, hoping that there was some sort of juice inside so that he wouldn't have another screaming child to deal with. As he opened the refrigerator door, something caught his eye, causing him to turn away from the frozen foods and toward the kitchen table. A smile spread across Sam's face and he turned to look over his shoulder. "Laura, come here." He said and, without a word, she headed over to do as he said.

Laura saw what caught Sam's attention and her reaction was very much like his. Lying across the chairs under the dining room table was a sleeping Erika, sprawled out and exhausted, unaware of everything that had happened in the past hour. Instantly, Laura felt all the stress and tension leave her body; all that time she had been so worried about finding the child that she hadn't searched the entire house, hadn't looked in the obvious places. Erika had been right under their noses all along, sleeping soundly while they had searched for her.

"Unbelievable." Sam muttered, shaking his head with a smile still on his face.

Laura had knelt beside Erika and was shaking the girl awake; the redhead opened her eyes grudgingly, blinking and looking at the oldest girl. "What's the matter?" Erika asked groggily, yawning and looking like she just wanted to go back to sleep.

"Didn't you hear us calling for you?" Laura questioned and Erika blinked, still clearly confused. "We were looking for you."

Erika yawned again. "But why?" She questioned. "I've been right here the whole time."

Sam couldn't help but smile. The girl did have a point.

* * *

Once the last child had been laid onto the makeshift pallet on the floor of Laura's room without protest, Sam felt an immense wave of relief roll over his body. It seemed impossible that after the huge debacle that he had been battling for the past several hours, everything was over and done with. Within the next hour, the parents would return to collect their children and he and Laura would be off the hook and leave the little demons to the care of their parents. All Sam knew for certain was that he was never going to baby sit again.

Now that the children were all sleeping, Sam thought that they actually looked cute, even a little angelic. There was no sign of the devil streak that ran through them, the energy and malice that had caused them to destroy most of Laura's apartment and run their babysitters ragged. All he could see at that moment was a gaggle of tired children and he thought that he might even be able to like them...as long as they were still sleeping.

A faint smile playing on the corners of his lips, Sam turned and left the room, leaving the door cracked so he and Laura would be able to hear if any ruckus started once their backs were turned. But he doubted that they would have to worry about putting down any miniature uprisings; it seemed that the chaos had ended for the night.

Laura was still in the living room, where she had been since Sam offered to get the children situated and asleep, scrubbing the floor with a damp sponge, attempting to get the ice cream stains out of the carpet. She looked up when he entered and offered him a half-hearted smile that seemed to suggest just how tired she really was. Sam knelt down beside her, his eyes scanning the living room that had once been an absolute disaster but now didn't look half bad.

"You've almost got it all cleaned up." Sam remarked, since there was little else for him to say. Even though he had definitely made progress in his tentative relationship with the beautiful brunette beside him, he still found it difficult to say something of actual importance to her. Laura still managed to tie his tongue into knots and cause his heart to rabbit about in his chest and Sam had discovered that it was still best to fumble about with small talk because that way he could manage to get a word or two out of his mouth.

"Yeah." Laura said with an exhausted sighed, setting the sponge aside. "It wasn't as bad as it looked."

Sam smiled slightly. "Well, it looks fine now." He leaned over and kissed the girl beside him. He couldn't believe that he was actually able to do the very thing he had always dreamed of doing and knew he would never grow tired of feeling Laura's lips against his. But the thing that truly baffled him was the fact that Laura was willing to kiss him and the thought that she actually cared for him like he did about her was inconvincible. Except for Sam knew he wasn't living in a dream every time he looked in her chocolate colored eyes and saw the truth reflected in them.

When the kiss was broken, Sam offered the girl another smile that easily melted Laura's heart. "So, we've finally got some alone time."

Laura's cheeks flushed slightly as she thought about just what could be done with such alone time. But instead of verbalizing any of her thoughts, she simply raised an eyebrow. "What are you suggesting Sam Hall?" She questioned.

Now it was Sam's turn to blush and he dropped his gaze to the floor momentarily. "Well I was just..." There he was again, suddenly tongue-tied. "We could..." He looked up and saw Laura giving him a somewhat amused smile. "Study." Sam finished lamely.

"Right, study." Laura somehow managed to keep the disappointment from her voice and off her face. "Of course, for the decathlon tryouts." She nodded once, unable to figure out just what she had been expecting Sam to say. And no one had ever said that there couldn't be a few kisses exchanged in between questions.

Sam seemed oblivious to Laura's disappointment and got to his feet, helping her up as well. "I'll get some books." He said before disappearing down the hallway once more.

"Books." Laura mumbled with another faint nod, though there was no longer anyone around to see it. "Because you study with books." She sighed and flopped onto the couch, closing her eyes and laying her head back against the cushion. _Get a hold of yourself, Chapman, _her mind advised in a scathing tone. _He did come over to study, after all. _Well, she had never planned on actually being able to kiss Sam tonight so it seemed like not all plans were meant to be kept.

Sam returned shortly with several text books he had no doubt procured from her bedroom and Laura narrowed her eyes, hoping that Sam didn't notice her reaction. Since when did she, Laura Chapman, not want to study? Since she discovered that there were better things that could be done. She closed her eyes once again and sighed deeply, thoughtfully, wearily.

"Okay," Sam said, setting the books on the coffee table in front of them as he sat down on the couch. "Where should we start?"

When Laura provided no answer, Sam turned to look her and his expression softened instantly. In the moments he had taken to get the books from her room and sat down she had managed to drift toward dreamland. And looking at the brunette, who was hovering peacefully between deep sleep and waking, Sam realized that this was as close as he was ever going to get to seeing an angel on Earth. Not that he was complaining.

* * *

The fact that Sam was growing increasingly interested in the plight of Marlin to retrieve his son, Nemo, did little to fight off the exhaustion that was threatening to claim him. He knew that at least one of them needed to be awake if one of the kids needed something or if the parents returned and he wasn't about to wake Laura up; she looked so beautiful, so adorable in her current position, with her head resting against the side of the couch and her mahogany locks trailing down her cheeks that he couldn't bear to disturb her. And so, Sam forced himself to attempt to concentrate on the gang of sea turtles directing Marlin and his fishy companion toward the EAC in an attempt to fight off the fatigue that made his eyelids heavy and was constantly reminding him how nice it would be to finally go to sleep.

With a sigh, Sam attempted to blink the heaviness from his eyes. It would only be a while longer until this night would come to an end and he might as well enjoy it while he could. After all, how often did he get the chance to have the girl of his dreams sleeping so close to him? He wasn't about to tempt Fate by trying to discover an answer to this question.

* * *

The front door opened and voices drifted in from the chilly air outside just as Marlin and Nemo were finally reunited. Sam cast a glance in the direction of the foyer before returning his attention to Laura, knowing that he would have to do the unthinkable. He was certain that her mother wouldn't exactly approve of finding her daughter asleep for reasons that he attempted to convince himself had nothing to do with him so the only possible option, he knew, was waking her up. But that didn't make it any easier.

A gentle shake brought Laura out of whatever pleasant dream she had been immersed in and she blinked her eyes in an attempt to focus her vision and chase away the grogginess that wanted to pull her back into dreamland. She smiled faintly when she saw Sam beside her and pulled herself into a sitting position. Before either one of the teenagers could say anything, Laura heard her mother's voice and cringed inwardly; how could they be home all ready? And, more importantly, how had she fallen asleep and thrown away the remaining time she had with Sam?

Michelle entered the apartment, breezing into the living room, followed by the gaggle of middle-aged parents she had gone out with. Laura wished that they would all collect their demon children and leave her and Sam to the 'alone time' she had been craving ever since she had met him. And, this time, she wouldn't fall asleep.

But Laura knew that wasn't an option and managed to fix a smile on her face that suggested she hadn't just been woken from a rather pleasant dream. The very anxious Ms. Eva Gesner looked fearfully at Laura and Sam. "Where are the children?" She questioned as though boy teenagers had forgotten what they were supposed to be doing in the past few hours.

"They're asleep in my room." Laura said, getting to her feet and leading the group down the hallway toward her bedroom.

Upon seeing the children asleep, Jerri-Lynn Flowers, Erika's mother, gave the dark-haired girl an impressed look. "Wow, I can't believe you actually got all of them to sleep." She leaned closer, clearly about to confide something in the girl. "When they stick me with these kids, I can never get them to sleep unless I give them some of my husband's sleeping pills in their ice cream."

Laura raised an eyebrow. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

* * *

Once all the children had been collected and the parents had slowly and regretfully pulled out their wallets and counted out bills, Sam was once again reminded that his evening with Laura was about to come to an end. It was the look that Michelle sent him once the last couple and their child had been shooed out the door that suggested he had better take a cue from them and take his leave. And since he found Michelle's gaze to be both withering and quite frightening, Sam decided not to push his luck.

"I'd better be going," Sam said to Michelle's satisfaction and Laura's somewhat concealed disappointment, "it was nice to meet you, Ms. Chapman." The woman muttered something only fairly pleasant in response.

"I'll walk you out." Laura offered and followed Sam out the door before her mother could raise protest.

Once the teenagers were free from the oppressive and almost condemning stare of Michelle, they found that they could relax in some areas. Sam figured that the nervousness he felt when he was around Laura would take a while to go away and hoped that he had the chance to banish the butterflies in his stomach. Hopefully Laura would give him the chance to really get over the pleasant jitters that filled his body whenever he saw her.

Laura looked over at Sam and offered him a smile that succeeded in bringing the butterflies flocking in droves to his stomach and his heart beating in his chest. "So I..." She started uncertainly.

Sam was more then willing to fill in her sentence. "I had a really fun time tonight."

"Fun?" Laura repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," Sam gave a shrug, feeling like a dork, "maybe not fun. But certainly interesting. What I mean is...I had a fun time with you."

Laura blushed pleasantly and looked down at her feet. "Yeah, so did I." She smiled slightly when she managed to meet his gaze again. "I'm really glad you came over tonight; I don't know how I could have managed without you." It seemed like she could never truly say what she really wanted to say.

Sam smiled. "Well, we could always do this again; we never did get that study time." He thought about what he was saying and restated his words. "Without the crazy kids, that is."  
"Of course." Laura said much too eagerly, hoping that Sam didn't sense the enthusiasm in her voice. "I'd love to...study with you." She felt like an idiot and glanced down at the cracked sidewalk beneath her feet once more.

With a smile, Sam leaned forward and kissed her gently, resting his fingers against her cheeks. Once the kiss was broken, much too quickly as Laura was concerned, he gave her a smile that quickly melted her heart. "Of course." He told her. "We'll study anytime."

Much too soon, Sam and Laura were forced to part ways, leaving on promises of meeting again before the weekend was over to do a little study and perhaps a little something else. Before Sam got too far down the sidewalk, he turned back to look at Laura once more. "How much did we get paid anyway?" He questioned, though the last thing on his mind was the money. He just wanted the excuse to look at the brunette again.

In truth, Laura had forgotten about the money as well and seemed to notice the money in her hand for the first time. After counting out the bills, her face seemed to fall. "Sixty dollars." She remarked. "Sixty dollars for six kids." She rolled her eyes. "The truest definition of cheap."

Sam couldn't help but smile. "Well, the parents have to put up with them every day for free." He pointed out. "I guess they expect us to do the same."

They parted again and this time Sam could think of no excuse to turn back and study her again. So Laura watched him get into his mother's car, which he had parked along the curb and disappear down the street, much like a lady-in-waiting would watch her handsome knight ride off into the sunset.

For a moment, Laura allowed her thoughts to carry her back through the events of the night and it seemed impossible that she had even survived the demonic children and the chaos they had caused. And she figured the only reason she had made it at all was because Sam had been with her and somehow being with Sam made everything much better. She remembered what it was like to kiss him and couldn't wait to feel his lips once again and her heart gave a little jump.

Somehow, the disaster still waiting for her upon reentering the house, the ruckus the children had caused and the horrible hour that Erika had been missing was all worth it when she thought about the fact that she had been able to tell Sam how she really felt about him. And the knowledge that he felt the same way was worth so much more then the sixty dollars she felt in her hand.

But then, everything was worth it as long as she was with Sam.


End file.
